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    Suburbia

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    Wayne F
    During the 1950s, suburban development boomed as people moved out of cities. Developers intentionally segregated neighborhoods by race, class, and religion to preserve property values and cater to homebuyer preferences. They knew whites wanted to live with other whites and avoid blacks due to fears of crime and poverty. As a result, rigid segregation was structured into suburban development plans. This legacy of segregation remains today, with wealthy neighborhoods like La Jolla housing doctors and engineers, while poorer areas like El Cajon ghettos consist mainly of minimum wage workers. As long as economic disparities exist, segregation by class will likely continue.

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    Suburbia

    Uploaded by

    Wayne F
    72 views2 pages
    During the 1950s, suburban development boomed as people moved out of cities. Developers intentionally segregated neighborhoods by race, class, and religion to preserve property values and cater to homebuyer preferences. They knew whites wanted to live with other whites and avoid blacks due to fears of crime and poverty. As a result, rigid segregation was structured into suburban development plans. This legacy of segregation remains today, with wealthy neighborhoods like La Jolla housing doctors and engineers, while poorer areas like El Cajon ghettos consist mainly of minimum wage workers. As long as economic disparities exist, segregation by class will likely continue.

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    During the 1950s, suburban development boomed as people moved out of cities. Developers intentionally segregated neighborhoods by race, class, and religion to preserve property values and cater to homebuyer preferences. They knew whites wanted to live with other whites and avoid blacks due to fears of crime and poverty. As a result, rigid segregation was structured into suburban development plans. This legacy of segregation remains today, with wealthy neighborhoods like La Jolla housing doctors and engineers, while poorer areas like El Cajon ghettos consist mainly of minimum wage workers. As long as economic disparities exist, segregation by class will likely continue.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    72 views2 pages

    Suburbia

    Uploaded by

    Wayne F
    During the 1950s, suburban development boomed as people moved out of cities. Developers intentionally segregated neighborhoods by race, class, and religion to preserve property values and cater to homebuyer preferences. They knew whites wanted to live with other whites and avoid blacks due to fears of crime and poverty. As a result, rigid segregation was structured into suburban development plans. This legacy of segregation remains today, with wealthy neighborhoods like La Jolla housing doctors and engineers, while poorer areas like El Cajon ghettos consist mainly of minimum wage workers. As long as economic disparities exist, segregation by class will likely continue.

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    Article written by: Wayne Fortin

    Segregation in suburbia

    During the 1950’s a great influx of people began to populate the suburban areas of

    the city. According to Cohen in A Consumers Republic growth in the city was around 1%

    percent while the suburban neighborhoods would grow by an outstanding 45% This new

    trend taking place brought about great economic growth in the economic market,

    according to Cohen “The health of the American economy and society depended on the

    vitality of mass consumption markets.” On the other side of the great urbanization

    spectrum we have segregation upon various socioeconomic classes. We will venture into

    why the developers of these neighborhoods created such strict, racial, religious and class

    segregations as well as what the motivations of the homeowners were and how suburban

    segregation influences our society today.

    The prices of houses in the real estate market were one of the main factors of

    segregation in American suburbia. House developers knew that new home buyers in the

    real estate market would associate how the appearance of a property in terms of style and

    size would mark own socioeconomic and market identity. As developers geared the

    neighborhoods towards a specific class such as towards the middle class, they knew that

    conserving and catering to those interests also meant the preservation of property values.

    Mortgage companies were even known to have a racial policy which advertised them to

    be the “protectors of the white neighborhoods.” Race played a big role in the developer’s

    motivations in the economy. Whites moved out because they feared that blacks were

    criminals and did not want to live next to a class that embodies poverty and crime. Race,
    Religion and Class played a huge role in the developer’s blueprints therefore structuring

    rigid segregation.

    Home buyers would in the fifties wanted things very homogenized and there by

    wanting to move in to neighborhoods with people that were just like them. This form of

    homogenization determined where a family would purchase a home when it came to

    market concerns and socioeconomic class. A passage in the A Consumers Republic stated

    by Ralph Bodek reads “it is interesting to note that people prefer to live near others as

    much like themselves as possible.”

    Segregation among suburbia still exists in today’s modern world. For example if

    you were to go to a ghetto located within El Cajon and then visit a prominent street in La

    Jolla you will find a huge socioeconomic class difference. You will notice that there are

    more elites located in La Jolla, such as doctors, business administrators, and engineers. If

    you were to visit the ghetto you will find more people surviving off minimum wage and

    making a rent payment as opposed to a mortgage payment. Prices among housing as

    stated before was a major factor in class segregation as it still holds ground and proves

    true today.

    In conclusion I believe money is the real class segregator and so long as money

    exists a strict social segregation will be in effect in today’s society. I believe that racial

    and religious segregation will become non existent in the future, but money will forever

    prove to be a major force in segregation, from suburban neighborhoods to cruising down

    the street in an automobile, ex. Mercedes vs. Geo Metro.

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