National Presentation Launches Sociological Study of a Cincinnati Community Activist Program
What defines criminal loitering versus acceptable loitering belonging versus exclusion in neighborhoods? University of Cincinnati analysis around those themes will be presented on Aug. 20 at the 106th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Las Vegas.
Amanda Staight, a doctoral student in UCs Department of Sociology, is looking ahead to a year of interviews with community leaders and residents of Westwood, a Cincinnati neighborhood, as she begins her exploration of that neighborhood, beginning with the community activist program, Good Guy Loitering. Staight is exploring how residents differentiate between whats considered criminal and permissible loitering.
The anti-crime program, Good Guy Loitering, defines itself as a program that gathers neighbors and friends together in an area of the community that is struggling with bad behavior. The gatherings encourage positive interactions involving drinking soda or coffee and sitting in lawn chairs.
Good Guy Loitering enacts claiming/reclamation of physical spaces by positioning the body in what they conceive of as appropriate neighborhood behaviors, writes Staight.
Few previous scholarly works have used a sociology of the body lens to analyze neighborhoods, Staight explains in her paper. I maintain that considering perceptions of neighborhood belonging and exclusion provides a unique means to consider a neighborhood.
Staight explains that social class, privilege and opportunity are common aspects that individuals embody. She says one means by which the community group differentiates itself from other loiterers is to identify themselves as authentic residents of the neighborhood.
The program has been expanding into other Cincinnati communities. Staight says that over the next year, shell be conducting interviews with the Westwood community on the good and bad sides of loitering.
Cincinnati is a city that needs sociological research to help it understand the effects of its past and develop its future, she says. I anticipate this project will present many fascinating themes.
Tags
Related Stories
From literature to AI: UC grad shares career path to success
April 23, 2024
Before Katie Trauth Taylor worked with international organizations like NASA, Boeing and Hershey, and before receiving accolades for her work in the generative AI space, she was in a much different industry: English and literature.
UC's record graduating class prepares for next chapter
April 22, 2024
UC will confer degrees to 7,521 degrees to 7,391 students. (Some students are earning multiple degrees.) Both represent new records at UC for a single graduating class dating back two centuries.
UC President Neville Pinto shares 2024 State of the University...
April 16, 2024
University of Cincinnati President Neville G. Pinto shared his 2024 Sate of the University address with the campus community on April 15.