Immigration and Social Disorder

Abstract

In Seeing Like a State, James C. Scott argues that the establishment and maintenance of social order in large cities are fragile achievements, in part due to the nonverbal nature of much of the interaction that defines and sustains the social fabric. For sociologist Robert Sampson, contemporary neighborhoods that are considered “communities of limited liability” depend primarily on stability. He called for community development policies that are sensitive to the potentially disruptive forces of neighborhood instability caused by unchecked development. One source of unchecked development that contributes to pronounced instability in American cities is immigration. This chapter explores the link between immigration and social disorder in the United States. It first provides an overview of the interrelationships among immigration, crime, and social disorder before turning to the issue of housing discrimination involving immigrants in Addison, a suburb of Chicago, that came to a head in the late 1990s. It also considers community policing as a means to address urban disorder.