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Abstract
This research aimed at investigating the potential for political involvement among working class people in a New York City neighborhood. Fieldwork was conducted from September 1975 through June 1977 in Greenpoint-Williamsburg, in the borough of Brooklyn. Since the research took place during the fiscal crisis in New York City it offered an opportunity for a researcher to observe forces which might have been more covert in a less crucial economic period. A drastic decline in employment and services, combined with the direct intervention of financial interests and State and Federal administrators, highlighted and intensified economic and political processes.
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first half analyzes the economic and social constraints under which working class people lived. The second half examines local protest movements, varying from small block associations to larger neighborhood movements.
The first chapter provides a general description of the area and its position as a transitional neighborhood within the changing economy and demography of New York City. In order to deal with the problem of bounding an area of study without ignoring wider factors, the first chapter presents comparative data on several contiguous sections of Brooklyn, including Greenpoint-Williamsburg. Trends are isolated among neighborhoods and comparisons made over time in order to provide a clearer understanding of the issues involved.
The next four chapters detail the numerous economic and political contraints that act against the development of protest actions among poor neighborhood residents. Opportunities for employment, involvement with welfare assistance and landlord tenant relations are analyzed in chapters II to V. These chapters suggest the sense of helplessness and fear engendered by the insecure economic situation and the bureaucratic institutions on which poor people are obliged to rely. Chapter V, which deals with landlord-tenant relations also begins to lay the groundwork for some understanding of ethnic and racial divisiveness within the area.
The second section describes social organization and efforts at collective action. Chapters VI and VII deal with the formation of a block association and the ways in which kin and neighbors worked together to organize activities on the block in order to obtain resources from the City. Chapter VIII analyzes the patterns of social organization on which this cooperation was based.
Chapter IX analyzes the formation of a movement protesting the reduction of City services in the closing of a firehouse. The issue developed state wide implications and the movement formed connections with both municipal unions and national politicians. The failures and successes of the firehouse organization are considered both in terms of city-wide policies and the community base on which it was built.
Chapter X deals with formal policies in Greenpoint-Williamsburg. Four case studies form the basis for a consideration of different political leaders, their function in the neighborhood and their position in relation to the fiscal conditions of New York City.