Democracy for Whom? Young Adulthood and the Politics of Place and Race

• In Event: Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality Among Millennials

Abstract

Economic inequality is on the rise in the United States and especially concentrated in American cities. But its effects are unevenly felt among the population. While the median white or Asian household lost less than one-third of its wealth following the recession and housing crash, black, Hispanic, and Native American households lost as a much as three-fourths of their wealth (Pfeffer, Danziger, & Schoeni, 2013). These profound and disparate conditions necessarily shape social, economic, and political outcomes, especially for young people transitioning into adulthood. Unfortunately, we know little about how precarious and uneven economic circumstances shape the political lives of young adults. In particular, we lack an understanding of how concentrated advantages and disadvantages in the post-recession urban city shape young adults’ political attitudes and actions.

Our paper investigates the overlapping influences of these concentrated advantages and disadvantages across place and race that structure divergent experiences for young adults in Chicago. In particular, our paper focuses on how diverse, young adults in Chicago perceive and respond to inequality in their neighborhoods and in the city at large, and in what ways place-based opportunity structures shape young adults’ sense of personal agency and possibility. This paper draws on an original, large-scale qualitative sample of 200 18- to 29-year-olds who were interviewed to investigate the “racial-spatial divide” in Chicago. The sample is composed evenly of African American, Asian American, Hispanic, and white young adults, and draws a very diverse cross-section with regard to education and socio-economic position.

Through an analysis of this extensive qualitative dataset, we are able to examine young people’s diverging experiences in the city and the political mechanisms through which inequality is not only reinforced, but also problematized and resisted. This analysis also provides an analysis of specific place-based opportunity structures that shape urban young adults’ sense of political agency and unequal democratic responsiveness. Finally, in this paper we are able to explain how differences in race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, political resources, and physical mobility shape how young adults navigate the urban city as they seek opportunities to discover power, purpose, and politics.

Citation:
Pfeffer, Fabian T., Sheldon Danziger, and Robert F. Schoeni. 2013. “Wealth Disparities Before and After the Great Recession.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 650 (November): 98-123.

Authors

• Margaret Brower, University of Chicago

• David Jonathan Knight, University of Chicago