The Social Order of the Slum

by Suttles, Gerald D.

• ISBN13: 9780226781921
• ISBN10: 0226781925
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1970-08-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

While he did the research for this book, Gerald Suttles lived for almost three years in the high-delinquency area around Hull House on Chicago's New West Side. He came to know it intimately and was welcomed by its residents, who are Italian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Negro. Suttles contends that the residents of a slum neighborhood have a set of standards for behavior that take precedence over the more widely held "moral standards" of "straight" society. These standards arise out of the specific experience of each locality, are peculiar to it, and largely determine how the neighborhood people act. One of the tasks of urban sociology, according to Suttles, is to explore why and how slum communities provide their inhabitants with these local norms. The Social Order of the Slum is the record of such an exploration, and it defines theoretical principles and concepts that will aid in subsequent research.

Table of Contents

Figures Maps Tables

Territoriality and Ordered Segmentation

Slum Neighborhood The Provincial Morality of Slum Neighborhoods Slum Neighborhoods as Culture-Building Worlds The Addams Area

The Ecological Basis of Ordered Segmentation Geographic Setting History and Background Conditions During the Present Study: 1962-65 The Public View The Local View The Order of Segmentation The Ecological Basis for the Corporate Unity of the Addams Area

Institutions and Patterns of Communication

Institutional Arrangements Religion Commercial Engines Recreation Education

Communicative Devices Language Gestures Clothing, Grooming, and Personal Display

Communical Channels Street Life Business Establishment Groups Institutionalized Segregation of Sex and Age Groups The Congestion of Domestic Life Historical and Universal Social Environments

Ethnic Solidarity

The Park and the Italians The Spirit ofOmerta The Ethics of "Natural Man" Reformulations of Cultural Traditions Named Groups Cross-Sex Relations The Barracudas and the Park The Incognitos and the Pica People The Basis of Adult Power

The Projects and the Negroes The Heritage of Political Arrangements Style of Life Mixed Blessings Named Groups

The Puerto Ricans and the Mexicans Polk and Laflin: The Mexicans Harrison Street: The Puerto Ricans

The Boys' World

The Composition of Local Street Corner Groups Sex Size Age Ethnicity Residence Conclusion

Primary Groups and Personal Identities Norms and Uniformity of Behavior Personal Identities Pattern of Cohesion

The Boys' World and the Wider Society Rumors and Rumbles:Tragetore Encounters with the Police Victims and Complainants Changes Through Time

The Meaning of Morality

Practicality and Morality Provincialism Ordered Segmentation Conflict and Order The Extension of Face-to-Face Relations Reality and Morality

Sources of Instability and Change

Bibliography

Index

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