The Neighborhood Has Its Own Rules

Synopsis

South Los Angeles Is Often Seen As Ground Zero For Inter-racial Conflict And Violence In The United States. Since The 1940s, South La Has Been Predominantly A Low-income African American Neighborhood, And Yet Since The Early 1990s Latino Immigrants—mostly From Mexico And Many Undocumented—have Moved In Record Numbers To The Area. Given That More Than A Quarter Million People Live In South La And That Poverty Rates Exceed 30 Percent, Inter-racial Conflict And Violence Surprises No One. The Real Question Is: Why Hasn't There Been More? Through Vivid Stories And Interviews, The Neighborhood Has Its Own Rules Provides An Answer To This Question. Based On In-depth Ethnographic Field Work Collected When The Author, Cid Martinez, Lived And Worked In Schools In South Central, This Study Reveals The Day-to-day Ways In Which Vibrant Social Institutions In South La— Its Churches, Its Local Politicians, And Even Its Gangs—have Reduced Conflict And Kept Violence To A Level That Is Manageable For Its Residents. Martinez Argues That Inter-racial Conflict Has Not Been Managed Through Any Coalition Between Different Groups, But Rather That These Institutions Have Allowed Established African Americans And Newcomer Latinos To Co-exist Through Avoidance—an Under-appreciated Strategy For Managing Conflict That Plays A Crucial Role In America's Low-income Communities. Ultimately, This Book Proposes A Different Understanding Of How Neighborhood Institutions Are Able To Mitigate Conflict And Violence Through Several Community Dimensions Of Informal Social Controls.