Why Are the Streets So Dirty? Social Psychological and Stratification Factors in the Decline of Municipal Services

Abstract

Although objective measures of the decline of municipal services are hard to obtain and harder to interpret, there is a strong subjective sense that municipal services have declined from the level of some previous time. This sentiment is reinforced by the increase in municipal budgets and in serviceability ratios (number of service providers per 10,000 of population) in virtually all municipal service divisions. I propose that part of the decline in services can be explained by changes in the relative status of providers and consumers of services in many cities. Two aspects of status are pertinent. First, in earlier years, municipal service providers had by-and-large less or at least not very much higher status than those to whom they provided services. Thus service to others by these lower status providers conformed with sociological notions of deference and compliance with the interests and wishes of those of higher status. With the shift in population toward black and Hispanic in many central cities, service providers are now of clearly higher status than many consumers of services. This militates against service provision since it violates the proper direction of flow of benefits. A second status consideration is that recent relatively rapid increases in income for municipal service workers have temporarily elevated self-conceptions and status to the point where dirtywork can now be shunned as incompatible with the new status level. This too militates against the provision of service since much of the municipal service task consists of dirty work. Finally, in certain municipal service arenas, the usually higher status white group is at the mercy of the usually lower status black and Hispanic group. A form of class warfare ensues which also means lesser service. A rationale for a solution is proposed. *Revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, 1978. I want to thank Arnold Birenbaum, Roslyn Bologh, Edgar Mills, Brian O'Connell, and Ino Rossi for helpful suggestions. ? 1979, University of North Carolina Press. 0037-7732/79/020422-42$02.10