Word: banfield
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...brink of decay and disaster. Is this picture overdrawn? Indeed it is, according to a recently published book, The Unheavenly City, that has found favor with the Nixon Administration and has aroused considerable controversy among academicians. Combining a ruthless logic of argument with an engaging tolerance of tone, Edward Banfield, 53, professor of urban government at Harvard, contends that many urban problems are largely imaginary. In fact, says Banfield, the cities are performing better than ever...
...arrive at such a heretical position, Banfield discounts the opinions of many big-city dwellers, from the poor to the mayors. As he sees it, people complain too much. Cities have problems, but they vary in importance. Thus he views traffic congestion as part of the price of living in a vital city; such discomforts can be tolerated, if not enjoyed. Indeed, the city environment is not necessarily the most important aspect of a city. "One has only to read Machiavelli's history of Florence," writes Banfield, "to see that living in a beautiful city is not in itself...
Inexorable Progress. Banfield believes that American cities are turning out a relatively humane citizenry−and an increasingly wealthier one. It has been the traditional function of the city, in fact, to attract the rural poor, both from the U.S. and abroad, and to provide them with better jobs and a better life. This process is not always apparent; often it is accompanied by what seems to be an upsurge in human misery, as the poor crowd into low-cost housing in the center of the city. But inexorably, they move up the social scale and out into more pleasant...
...Banfield concedes that 15% to 20% of ghetto blacks do not seem to make any progress and remain mired in poverty and malaise. But he argues that the city is not to blame. These unfortunates constitute what he calls the lower class, and they remain fairly impervious to any sort of assistance. Departing radically from conventional analysis, Banfield maintains that their plight lies, essentially, neither in discrimination nor lack of income, but in their class outlook: they are rigidly present-minded and they do not want to postpone immediate pleasure in order to secure some future gain. In this respect...
Such a ringing defense of the urban environment can be cheered by those who have long suffered the ills of the city−or think they have. Yet disquieting questions remain. Has Banfield quite grasped the tumult of feelings involved in being black? He may have underestimated the less obvious, lingering forms of discrimination that are so galling to blacks precisely because they are often too subtle to combat. If it is true that many federal programs have failed to make a dent in the city's poverty, this does not mean that others should not be tried; public...