Table Of ContentMarxism and the Metropolis
MARXISM
and the
METROPOLIS
New Perspectives in Urban Political Economy
Second Edition
Edited, by
WILLIAM K. TABB
QUEENS COLLEGE, CUNY
LARRY SAWERS
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1984
Copyright © 1984 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Marxism and the metropolis.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Urban economics—Addresses, essays, lectures.
2. Marxian economics—Addresses, essays, lectures.
3. Cities and towns—United States—Addresses, essays,
lectures. I. Tabb, William K. II. Sawers, Larry,
1942r- .
HT321.M24 1984 338.973'009173'2 82-25965
ISBN 0-19-503307-8
ISBN 0-19-503308-6 (pbk.)
Printing (last digit) : 987654321
Printed in the United States of America
Preface
In 1975 the editors of this volume organized a conference on “New Per
spectives on the Urban Political Economy.” The best papers delivered at
this conference were brought together in a book, Marxism and the Metrop
olis: New Perspectives on the Urban Political Economy (Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1978). This volume was so successful that we have repeated
the process. A new conference with the same title as the first was held at
The American University in Washington, D.C., in May 1981. Most of the
papers in this new edition of Marxism and the Metropolis were delivered
at this second conference. Only four of the papers, and some of these with
extensive revisions, appeared in the first edition. The second edition is,
therefore, almost entirely new. Since the first conference in 1975 there has
been a dramatic increase in the activity of scholars writing in the field of
urban political economy. The sophistication of the analysis and the breadth
of empirical research has developed explosively. Thus our present effort
represents the substantially better quality and greater quantity of research
that is presently being produced.
We initially had some misgivings about re-using the title Marxism
and the Metropolis for this second volume. There were authors of selections
in both volumes who would not identify themselves as Marxists. More
importantly, we did not want any pressure to justify why everything put in
the book was specifically Marxist. We wanted to put our attention to ex
plaining the urban reality around us rather than defending a particular
school of thought. We, like many progressive scholars in this country, have
become much less concerned about whether we are really Marxist than
whether we are really right. To emphasize the specifically Marxist charac
ter of this work risks the creation of chasms which then must be bridged.
Realizing all of these dangers, we have nonetheless retained the origi
Preface
VI
nal title. The purpose of this present volume is to carry on the mission of
the first edition. This latest effort is bigger and significantly better than our
first, but it is designed to play the same role, to fill the same niche, as the
first edition. In editing these papers, we have not gone out of our way to
highlight what is or is not Marxist. Indeed, we have edited out the more
ponderous Marxist jargon. The perspective offered by this book was far
more controversial ten or even five years ago. Feeling less defensive about
our intellectual foundation allows us to focus on analyzing cities rather
than self-consciously justifying or even calling attention to the particular
methodology that we are using. Nevertheless, the reader familiar with the
thinking of Karl Marx will undoubtedly notice the heavy intellectual debt
that every selection of this book owes to him, even those selections by
authors who do not consider themselves Marxist.
The present book differs from the earlier one in another important
respect. The research for the papers presented in Marxism and the Me
tropolis was carried out in the mid-1970s, when the fires of the 1960s
ghetto riots were, figuratively speaking, still smouldering. The concerns of
political economists and conventional social scientists as well focused on
the inner city and the urban crisis arising from the concentration of the
poor and minorities there. More recently, political economists found that
their perspective offered insight into other aspects of urban economic de
velopment. Instead of the rhetoric of earlier years which, for example,
viewed the suburbs as a place where people could “escape from capitalist
reality,” it was seen that the suburbs too are a part of—and now the larger
part of—capitalist reality. Urban decay and poverty on the one hand is
matched with buoyant economic growth and affluence in other parts of the
city or in other regions. Political economists broadened their scope in re
cent years to explain both aspects of the contradictory reality of capitalism,
and this is reflected in many of the papers in this book.
One of the criticisms of Marxism and the Metropolis was that it was
too often inaccessible to undergraduates, the primary market for the book.
For the present book, greater care has been taken with regard to unneces
sarily arcane vocabulary, academic jargon, Marxist lingo, and statistical
terms in order to insure that the book is easily read by a typical under
graduate in a four-year institution with little background in economics or
statistics. At the same time, the papers presented are sufficiently sophisti
cated to be of interest to graduate students and professionals. The book is
of interest to and accessible to economists, sociologists, anthropologists,
urban planners, and political scientists as well as the general public.
It would be impossible to properly thank everyone who has con
tributed to this book since it grows out of an intellectual movement com
posed of hundreds of scholars and activists. The ideas that helped shape
this volume are a collective product. We would, however, be remiss if we
Preface Vll
did not mention the marvelous editing skills of Nancy Amy who turned
garbled prose into elegant communications. Many thanks also to Melissa
Eisenberg who typed substantial portions of this volume, transforming
nearly illegible drafts into usable manuscript.
New York W.T.
Washington L.S.
June 1983
Contents
1. New Perspectives on the Urban Political Economy 3
Larry Sawers
PART ONE. FROM CITY TO METROPOLIS
2. Capitalist Development and the History of American Cities 21
David M. Gordon
3. Urbanization and the Dynamics of Suburban Development Under
Capitalism 54
Patrick J. Ashton
4. Class and Urban Social Expenditure: A Marxist Theory of
Metropolitan Government 82
Ann R. Markusen
5. City Limits: Municipal Boundary Formation and Class
Segregation 101
Charles Hoch
PART TWO. POLITICAL STRUGGLE AND HOUSING
6. Austerity, Shelter, and Social Conflict in the United States 123
Richard T. LeGates and Karen Murphy
7. Large Builders, Federal Housing Programs, and Postwar
Suburbanization 152
Barry Checkoway
8. The Tenants’Movement 174
Peter Dreier
Contents
X
PART THREE: PLANNING THE METROPOLIS
9. From Industrial to Corporate City: The Role of Urban
Renewal 205
Nancy Kleniewski
10. The Political Economy of Urban Transportation: An Interpretive
Essay 223
Larry Sawers
11. The Failures of National Urban Policy 255
William K. Tabb
PART FOUR. POLITICAL STRUGGLE AND FISCAL CRISIS
12. Political Conflict, Urban Structure, and the Fiscal Crisis 273
Roger Friedland, Frances Fox Fiven, and Robert R. Alford
13. Fiscal Crisis, Austerity Politics, and Alternative Urban
Policies 298
Richard Child Hill
14. The New York City Fiscal Crisis 323
William K. Tabb
15. Management Strategies in Public Sector Labor Law: A Case
Study of New York City 346
Mark Maier
PART FIVE. EPILOGUE
16. A Pro-People Urban Policy 367
William K. Tabb
Contributors 383
Index 387
