Bridging Theoretical Divides: Race, Culture, and Concentrated Poverty in American Cities.

From the ecological model of the Chicago School to contemporary theories, sociologists have argued that the city wields a powerful force which constrains agency, both at the individual level and further at the level of community, whereby their adaptation to the urban environment might produce a "culture" unique to their ecological niche in the city. This paper critiques urban sociology's primary explanations for concentrated disadvantage in American cities, focusing particularly on articulations of a "culture of poverty" as an explanatory theory. Bridging divides within the discipline of sociology, we find that the work of human ecologists, globalization theorists, political economists, demographers, and ethnographers reveal the relevance and intangibility of a cultural explanation for concentrated disadvantage in American cities, one that warrants a reevaluation of policy, community-building, and agency in our most disadvantaged communities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]