In 2009, Chicago spent millions of dollars to create programs to prevent
gang violence in some of its most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Yet in
spite of the programs, violence has grown worse in some of the very
neighborhoods that the violence prevention programs were intented to
help. While public officials and social scientists often attribute the
violence - and the failure of the programs - to a lack of community in
poor neighborhoods, closer study reveals another source of community
division: local politics.
Through an ethnographic case study of Chicago's Little Village
neighborhood, Wounded City dispells the popular belief that a lack of
community is the primary source of violence, arguing that competition
for political power and state resources often undermine efforts to
reduce gang violence. Robert Vargas argues that the state, through the
way it governs, can contribute to distrust and division among community
members, thereby undermining social cohesion. The strategic actions
taken by police officers, politicians, nonprofit organizations, and
gangs to collaborate or compete for power and resources can vary block
by block, triggering violence on some blocks while successfully
preventing it on others.
A rich blend of urban politics, sociology, and criminology, Wounded
City offers a cautionary tale for elected officials, state agencies,
and community based organizations involved with poor neighborhoods.
