Urban Mascots and Poverty Fetishism

Authenticity in the Postindustrial City

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2363352
AutoresTerressa A Benz (0000-0003-3131-4689, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2016
Volumen59
Número2
Páginas460-478
Fecha de publicación2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0731-1214 • E-ISSN: 1533-8673
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0731121415583103
OpenAlexW2322071022
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas31

Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a transformation from concentrated disadvantage to vibrant city center. Using ethnographic research conducted in the gentrifying Historic Core of Los Angeles, I find that the presence of some original residents is encouraged as they help create the gritty and risky atmosphere valued by the new urbanites moving to the area who equate poverty with authenticity in a form of poverty fetishism. I focus here on a subsection of the low-income downtown population, who I call 'urban mascots,' whose value lies in their ability to embody stereotypical attributes of poverty. I create a typology of urban mascots based on the type of interactions they are willing to have with those seeking experiences with urban poverty. In the end, I argue that urban mascots provide the new gentrifying residents with a cast of nonthreatening and charismatic characters who represent for them a consumable authentic urban experience

Charisma · Disadvantage · Downtown · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnography · Gentrification · Geography · Political science · Poverty · Sociology · Typology · Urban poverty · Anthropology · Public Spaces through Art · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Visual Culture and Art Theory