This week’s readings by Murphy, Lee, and Rios presented themes on “The Iconic Ghetto” and the ways in which individuals navigate and interpret these spaces. Each set of readings, and their ethnographic studies therein, provided concrete evidence of the persistence of racial segregation in communities, and how this segregation, in turn, forces certain individuals to develop what Rios terms “organic capital.” In doing so, these individuals are unable to define themselves, and instead, are defined by societal perceptions.

I had never heard of the term organic capital prior to this reading, however, after reading Rios’ piece “Dummy Smart” it became clear that this notion persisted in the work of Murphy and Lee. First, in Murphy’s piece, we see how new members of the community are used as scapegoats for the on-going littering problem. As long-time community members had no one to blame the littering problem on, the turned to the poor black individuals who had recently moved to the neighborhood, arguing that they littered because they cared little about the health of the community (Murphy 211). This labeling, by white community members, had ramifications for the poor black ex-urbanites moving into the community. To me, it seemed like this stripped them of their identity, and instead of being able to redefine themselves in their new neighborhood, the community immediately labeled them as deviant and immoral. I thought this notion related well to our class discussion on housing programs and the rise of the suburbs. Murphy states that the Section 8 housing program was used to move poor families out of the city and into the suburbs (211). While in theory programs like these should cause few problems, Murphy’s study revealed how housing programs can often times do more harm than good. This made me think of a question posed in class, asking if federal housing policies have more positive or negative impacts. I think in this sense, and through this example, we see the negative impacts of such policies, as it allowed long time community residents to blame their persisting problems on poor blacks as they moved into the area. In doing this, these community members, unknowingly, were identifying individuals as deviant, careless, and immoral with no probable cause. In doing so, the newcomers felt rejected and unwanted within their social space.

The notion of organic capital was also evident in Lee’s piece on rap battling, and again, shows how certain individuals are stripped of their identity by the perceptions of society. The individuals who engaged in rap battles were often neglected by society, and were seen as deviant by locals, teachers, and administrators (Lee 594-595). Unsurprisingly, this made rap battles a form of organic capital, where these individuals could interact with one another outside the confines of society. To me, I thought this gave the rap battlers a new identity, as they were no longer ostracized by members of the larger community, bur rather, were identified by the smaller rap battling community, where everyone shared similar characteristics. Furthermore, this allowed them to escape from the unaccepting community, into a more private and hidden social space. This idea made me think of our discussion on cities, and how eventually over time, individuals form communities with whom they are most similar to. Often times this is based on race, as seen in the work of Massey and Denton, in which individuals congregate according to class and ethnicity. In this sense, the individuals neglected by society turned to rap battling to develop a sense of community in which they could temporarily take on new identities, and not those of society.

After these readings I was left wondering what could be done to move away from this notion of organic capital. Initially, I thought it this would be extremely difficult, and that most solutions would merely act as “Band-Aid” solutions that end up perpetuating the same problems over time. For example, we talked about an education reform in class, and how this might give these kids the opportunity to stay and school, and off of the streets. However, since public schools are funded through property taxes, to me, this reform would only temporarily solve the problem. While there is no easy way to solve this problem, reform efforts must be long-lasting and routinely monitored. Further, societal perceptions should not define communities from the outside looking in, but instead should work to help these individuals thrive in all social spaces.