Separate Societies: Poverty and Inequality in U.S. Cities

William Goldsmith · Edward Blakely

Jun 2010 · Temple University Press

About this ebook

“Economic and political forces no longer combat poverty—they generate poverty!" exclaim William Goldsmith and Edward Blakely in their report on the plight of American's urban poor. In this revised and updated edition of their 1992 book Separate Societies,the authors present a compelling examination of the damaging divisions that isolate poor city minority residents from the middle-class suburban majority. They pay special attention to how the needs of the permanently poor have been unmet through the alternating years of promises and neglect, and propose a progressive turn away from 30 years of conservative policies.

Separate Societies vividly documents how the urban working class has been pushed out of industrial jobs through global economic restructuring, and how the Wall Street meltdown has aggravated underemployment, depleted public services, and sharpened racial and class inequalities.

The authors insist that the current U.S. approach puts Americans out of work and lowers the standard of living for all. As such, Goldsmith and Blakely urge the Obama administration to create better urban policy and foster better metropolitan management to effectively and efficiently promote equality.

About the author

William W. Goldsmith is Professor of City and Regional Planning and Director of the Program on International Studies in Planning at Cornell University. He has taught throughtout Latin America, and during the Clinton Administration he served on the EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Board. Edward J. Blakely is Honorary Professor of Urban Policy at the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He ran for Mayor in Oakland in 1998, was Dean at University of Southern California and also at the Milano Graduate School, and most recently served as recovery czar for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.