Behind the Gates: Life, Security, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America

ISBN-13: 9780415944380 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 288 str.

Setha Low

Opis

Since the 1980s, thousands upon thousands of the upper and middle classes have retreated into gated communities. In 2002, it is estimated that one in eight Americans will live in these exclusive neighbourhoods. What has sparked this alarming trend? Behind the Gates is Setha Low's revealing account of what life is like inside these suburban fortresses. After years researching and interviewing families in Long Island, New York and San Antonio, Texas, Low provides an inside view of gated communities to help explain why people flee to these enclaves. Parents with children, young married couples, empty-nesters and retirees express their need for safety, their secret fears of a more ethnically diverse America, and their desire to recapture the close-knit, picket-fenced communities of their childhood. Ironically, she shows, gated neighbourhoods are in fact no safer than other suburbs, and many who move there are disheartened by the insularity and restrictive rules of the community.

Recenzje

"Provocative and disturbing, this much-needed book holds up an unsparing mirror to an unsettling sign of our times." - The New York Times

Spis treści

Preface Prologue 1. Arriving at the Gates 2. Protecting the Children 3. Recreating the Past 4. Searching for the Perfect Community 5. Urban Fear 6. Retirement and Taxes 7. Leaving the Gates Behind 8. Unlocking the Gated Community Bibliography Appendix: Residential History Interview Schedule

O autorze

Setha Low is Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author or editor of numerous books, including Theorizing the City: The New Urban Anthropology Reader; Housing, Culture, and Design; Cultural Spaces; and Place Attachment.