Political Places: Neighborhood Social Organization and the Ecology of Political Behaviors

• In Event: 476 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Paper Session. Challenges to Community Social Organization in a Changing America

Abstract

While scholars treat neighborhoods as important contexts of inequality, few studies explore the social processes that create disparities in neighborhoods’ political capacities. To what extent are neighborhoods political places? We investigate the relationship between neighborhood social organization and four forms of political engagement: neighborhood meeting attendance, contacting government for services, and voter turnout in a local and a national midterm election. Using both surveys and administrative data from the city of Boston, we find residential stability, immigrant concentration, and policy feedbacks affect neighborhoods’ political behavior. However, we find limited evidence supporting the effects of collective efficacy and concentrated disadvantage on political behavior. We argue neighborhoods are indeed political places, and residential stability, immigrant concentration, and policy feedbacks are important determinants of the civic health of urban communities.

Authors

• Jeremy R. Levine, Harvard University

• Theodore Leenman, Harvard University

• David M. Hureau, Harvard University