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Urban Problems and Social Policy 469

the city and oppose measures that would allow urban and suburban governments joint con-
redlining a decision by the offi-
trol over what has become a contiguous mass of people and businesses (Innes et al. 2011). cers of a financial institution not to
They do not mind going to the city to work, or venturing there on weekends for the diver- make loans in a particular area
sions it offers, but they do not want to help pay the city’s expenses.
disinvestment the withdrawal of
It is likely that the mounting bill ultimately will come due, however, and that sub- investments by financial institutions,
urbanites will have to pay for their uncaring attitude toward the urban disadvantaged. which seals the fate of an urban
Sociologist David Karp and colleagues (1991) put it this way: area
deindustrialization the process
It may be that suburbs can insulate themselves from the problems of central cities, at least
of industries moving out of a coun-
for the time being. In the long run, though, there will be a steep price to pay for the failure
try or region
of those better off to care compassionately for those at the bottom of society.
Our occasional urban riots may be part of that bill—perhaps just the down payment.
Suburban Flight. In some places, the bill is coming due quickly. As they age, some
suburbs are becoming mirror images of the city that their residents so despise. Suburban
crime, the flight of the middle class, a shrinking tax base, and eroding services create
a spiraling sense of insecurity, stimulating more middle-class flight (Katz and Bradley
2009; Palen 2012). Figure 14.15 illustrates this process, which is new to the urban–
suburban scene.

FIGURE 14.15 Urban Growth and Urban Flight

50 years ago 25 years ago Now

At first, the city and As city dwellers fled urban As middle-class flight continues
surrounding villages grew decay, they created a ring outward, urban problems are
independently. of suburbs. arriving in the outer rings.

Disinvestment and Deindustrialization
As the cities’ tax bases shrank and their services declined, neighborhoods deterio-
Watch on MySocLab
rated and banks began redlining: Afraid of loans going bad, bankers would draw a Video: Challenges Facing
line around a problem area on a map and refuse to make loans for housing or busi- Cities
nesses there (Ropiequet et al. 2012). This disinvestment (withdrawal of investment)
pushed these areas into further decline. Youth gangs, muggings, and murders are
common in these areas, but good jobs are not. All are woven into this process of
disinvestment.
The globalization of capitalism has also left a heavy mark on U.S. cities. As we
reviewed in Chapter 11, to compete in the global market, many U.S. companies moved
their factories to countries where labor costs are lower. This process, called deindus-
trialization, made U.S. industries more competitive, but it eliminated millions of U.S.
manufacturing jobs. Lacking training in the new information technologies, many poor
people are locked out of the benefits of the postindustrial economy that is engulfing the
United States. Left behind in the inner cities, many live lives of quiet and not-so-quiet
despair.