Urban Governance and Politics - Sociology of the City - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

Download Urban Governance and Politics - Sociology of the City - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Sociology of the City Urban Governance & Politics docsity.com Power, Politics & Policy • Power & Resources • Functions of Local State/Govt.: • Welfare Provision • Regulator of Local Economy • An intermediary in the formation of collective identity • A coercive agent of social order and discipline (Savage et al p.154) • Also - Infrastructure, planning, sanitation, local environment etc. docsity.com • Urban Political Economy – (see Castells; Harvey) – neo- Marxist/left liberal perspective – urban political system as a consequence of capitalist/market competition and influence • Urban ‘Growth Machine’ – Logan & Molotch – ‘boosterism’ and ‘growth coalitions’ – collective economic elite? • Urban Regime Theory – Elkin & Stone – ‘informal yet relatively stable groups with access to institutional resources’ – informal collection of economic elites – urban ‘movers’ and ‘shakers’ • Consensus- whether cities are controlled by elite is a matter of debate. However, elites tend to dominate the decision making process in most cities. (see Gottdiener, Savage, Parker) Theories of Urban Governance docsity.com The Changing Nature of Urban Governance • 1) Until mid 19th Century – Oligarchy of local bourgeoisie • 2) 1850-1910 - Municipal Socialism – public service, paternalism, liberal reform (& corruption) • 3) 1910 – 1940 – The depression leads to greater role of local government – housing, health, education, welfare. (Business leaders supplanted by civic minded lower middle classes) docsity.com The Changing Nature of Urban Governance • 4) 1940 -1975 – ‘Urban Managerialism’ (Rex & Moore (1967) – Professionals and Politicians (facilitating the needs of capitalist enterprise while mitigating its negative effects) • 5) mid 1970’s – Decline of local government – centralised control and privatization/quasi- marketisation of local services – ‘civic entrepreneurialism’ • 6) New Phase of Local Government? – Increasing Public Concerns over Environment & Sustainability (Knox & Pinch, 2000; Savage et al, 2003) docsity.com The Challenge to Collective Consumption • ‘Fiscal Crisis’ of 1970’s – Public wants and tax base out of sync. • Erosion of the Tax Base • Reproductive self sufficiency v reproductive dependency (‘overload’ & ‘dependency’)- (see Saunders, 1986) • Thatcherism – Removal of local tax raising powers and spending. Local authorities (labour) seen to be representatives of the ‘feckless’ urban poor spending the taxes of the ‘hard-working’ middle classes. (Similar patter of ‘Privatism’ in USA under Reagan) • Transfer of public services to private firms and ‘quangos’ • Reduction of Executant role of Local Government (Savage et al, 2003). docsity.com Political Participation in Local Elections • Declining electoral turnout generally, and particularly in local elections • < 50% • more commonly 25-30% docsity.com Political Participation • Key Reasons for voter apathy– • Don’t need to act • No point in acting • Socio-spatial (Gottdiener): • Suburbanisation (see also secessionist movements & ‘divorce the city’) • Centralisation • Privatism • Globalization – (Effectiveness and Locus of Decision-making) docsity.com