Robert Vargas
Biographic Data
| ID | 3685989 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Vargas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Vargas |
| SIGNATURE | VARGAS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Florida |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1792-6657 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 51 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
How Political Dynasties Concentrate Advantage within Cities
Classic models of urban inequality acknowledge the importance of politics for resource distribution and service provision. Yet, contemporary studies of spatial inequality rarely measure politics directly. In this paper, we introduce political dynasties as a way of integrating political economy approaches with ecological theory to better understand the political construction of urban spatial inequality. To do so, we examine the case of political d…
The Racial and Economic Foundations of Municipal Redistricting
How do local governments resist internal pressure for social change? This study explores this question by examining the role of redistricting. Using digitized ward maps from Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis from the 1800s to the present, this study applied mixed methods to systematically explore and understand the movement of districts over time. We discovered that local governments used redistricting for racially and economically motivated socia…
Why Latino Youth (Don’t) Call Police
Latinos have been remarkably absent from research on the degree to which citizens notify police about violent crimes. This article takes a few small steps toward filling this knowledge gap through a case study of Mexican American youth in Little Village, the largest Mexican neighborhood in the Midwest. We ask: Why do some Latino youth notify police about violent crimes more than others? Using a unique survey data set of neighborhood youth ( N = 2…
Public Scholarship
Robert Vargas interviews Rebecca Sandefur about her work merging the fields of sociology and law
Organized Community Activity Participation and the Dynamic Roles of Neighborhood Violence and Gender among Latino Adolescents
Relative to their peers, Latino youth are underinvolved in organized community activities (e.g., Boys and Girls Club), and their experiences lack examination. This study employed a neighborhood case‐study approach to examine the experiences of Latino youth in a neighborhood with high levels of violence and their participation in organized community activities. Employing a cluster sampling design (Lohr, Sampling: Design and analysis . Pacific Grov…
Medicaid expansion and ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage
Medicaid expansion, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was touted by many policymakers as a potentially powerful force for reducing ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage. Using a unique county-level dataset at two time points (before and after the passage of the PPACA), we test whether Medicaid Expansion predicted change in ethnoracial disparities. Specifically, we use fixed-effect regression models …
Race and State in City Police Spending Growth
What has driven city police spending growth in large cities? Studies show that racial threat is an important predictor, but scholars overlook how cities can afford spending increases during hard financial times. Research suggests that federal grants through the 1994 Clinton crime bill and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security play important roles. In this article, the authors ask whether racial threat and federal aid had an interrelated role i…
Wounded City
This book charts a new direction for explanations of neighborhood violence that focuses on the underexamined role of adversarial relations (turf wars) among politicians, gangs, and the police. This case study of the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago investigates why shootings and arsons were concentrated on clusters of blocks in the neighborhood’s eastside. Using a mix of ethnographic, historical, and statistical data, the book focuses on tw…
The Insane Chicago Way
Criminal Group Embeddedness and the Adverse Effects of Arresting a Gang's Leader
Although law enforcement agencies arrest criminal group leaders to dismantle organized crime, few studies have assessed whether such interventions produce adverse effects. Through a mixed‐method comparative case study of the Latin Kings and 22 Boys street gangs in Chicago, this article examines the consequences of arresting a gang's leader. Using violent crime data, I show that a spike in violent crime took place in the first month after the arre…
Being in “Bad” Company
Theories of susceptibility to peer influence have centered on the idea that lower status adolescents are likely to adopt the behaviors of high status adolescents. While status is important, social exchange theorists have shown the value of analyzing exchange relations between actors to understand differences in power. To build on status-based theories of peer influence, this study analyzes power dependence relations in three adolescent friendship…
Personality traits associated with voice types
Criminal Group Embeddedness and the Adverse Effects of Arresting a Gang's Leader
Although law enforcement agencies arrest criminal group leaders to dismantle organized crime, few studies have assessed whether such interventions produce adverse effects. Through a mixed‐method comparative case study of the Latin Kings and 22 Boys street gangs in Chicago, this article examines the consequences of arresting a gang's leader. Using violent crime data, I show that a spike in violent crime took place in the first month after the arre…
Race and State in City Police Spending Growth
What has driven city police spending growth in large cities? Studies show that racial threat is an important predictor, but scholars overlook how cities can afford spending increases during hard financial times. Research suggests that federal grants through the 1994 Clinton crime bill and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security play important roles. In this article, the authors ask whether racial threat and federal aid had an interrelated role i…
Organized Community Activity Participation and the Dynamic Roles of Neighborhood Violence and Gender among Latino Adolescents
Relative to their peers, Latino youth are underinvolved in organized community activities (e.g., Boys and Girls Club), and their experiences lack examination. This study employed a neighborhood case‐study approach to examine the experiences of Latino youth in a neighborhood with high levels of violence and their participation in organized community activities. Employing a cluster sampling design (Lohr, Sampling: Design and analysis . Pacific Grov…
Personality traits associated with voice types
Being in “Bad” Company
Theories of susceptibility to peer influence have centered on the idea that lower status adolescents are likely to adopt the behaviors of high status adolescents. While status is important, social exchange theorists have shown the value of analyzing exchange relations between actors to understand differences in power. To build on status-based theories of peer influence, this study analyzes power dependence relations in three adolescent friendship…
How Political Dynasties Concentrate Advantage within Cities
Classic models of urban inequality acknowledge the importance of politics for resource distribution and service provision. Yet, contemporary studies of spatial inequality rarely measure politics directly. In this paper, we introduce political dynasties as a way of integrating political economy approaches with ecological theory to better understand the political construction of urban spatial inequality. To do so, we examine the case of political d…
The Racial and Economic Foundations of Municipal Redistricting
How do local governments resist internal pressure for social change? This study explores this question by examining the role of redistricting. Using digitized ward maps from Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis from the 1800s to the present, this study applied mixed methods to systematically explore and understand the movement of districts over time. We discovered that local governments used redistricting for racially and economically motivated socia…
Medicaid expansion and ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage
Medicaid expansion, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was touted by many policymakers as a potentially powerful force for reducing ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage. Using a unique county-level dataset at two time points (before and after the passage of the PPACA), we test whether Medicaid Expansion predicted change in ethnoracial disparities. Specifically, we use fixed-effect regression models …
The Insane Chicago Way
Personality traits associated with voice types
Being in “Bad” Company
Theories of susceptibility to peer influence have centered on the idea that lower status adolescents are likely to adopt the behaviors of high status adolescents. While status is important, social exchange theorists have shown the value of analyzing exchange relations between actors to understand differences in power. To build on status-based theories of peer influence, this study analyzes power dependence relations in three adolescent friendship…
Criminal Group Embeddedness and the Adverse Effects of Arresting a Gang's Leader
Although law enforcement agencies arrest criminal group leaders to dismantle organized crime, few studies have assessed whether such interventions produce adverse effects. Through a mixed‐method comparative case study of the Latin Kings and 22 Boys street gangs in Chicago, this article examines the consequences of arresting a gang's leader. Using violent crime data, I show that a spike in violent crime took place in the first month after the arre…
Wounded City
This book charts a new direction for explanations of neighborhood violence that focuses on the underexamined role of adversarial relations (turf wars) among politicians, gangs, and the police. This case study of the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago investigates why shootings and arsons were concentrated on clusters of blocks in the neighborhood’s eastside. Using a mix of ethnographic, historical, and statistical data, the book focuses on tw…
The Insane Chicago Way
Medicaid expansion and ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage
Medicaid expansion, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was touted by many policymakers as a potentially powerful force for reducing ethnoracial disparities in health insurance coverage. Using a unique county-level dataset at two time points (before and after the passage of the PPACA), we test whether Medicaid Expansion predicted change in ethnoracial disparities. Specifically, we use fixed-effect regression models …
Race and State in City Police Spending Growth
What has driven city police spending growth in large cities? Studies show that racial threat is an important predictor, but scholars overlook how cities can afford spending increases during hard financial times. Research suggests that federal grants through the 1994 Clinton crime bill and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security play important roles. In this article, the authors ask whether racial threat and federal aid had an interrelated role i…
Organized Community Activity Participation and the Dynamic Roles of Neighborhood Violence and Gender among Latino Adolescents
Relative to their peers, Latino youth are underinvolved in organized community activities (e.g., Boys and Girls Club), and their experiences lack examination. This study employed a neighborhood case‐study approach to examine the experiences of Latino youth in a neighborhood with high levels of violence and their participation in organized community activities. Employing a cluster sampling design (Lohr, Sampling: Design and analysis . Pacific Grov…
Public Scholarship
Robert Vargas interviews Rebecca Sandefur about her work merging the fields of sociology and law
Why Latino Youth (Don’t) Call Police
Latinos have been remarkably absent from research on the degree to which citizens notify police about violent crimes. This article takes a few small steps toward filling this knowledge gap through a case study of Mexican American youth in Little Village, the largest Mexican neighborhood in the Midwest. We ask: Why do some Latino youth notify police about violent crimes more than others? Using a unique survey data set of neighborhood youth ( N = 2…
The Racial and Economic Foundations of Municipal Redistricting
How do local governments resist internal pressure for social change? This study explores this question by examining the role of redistricting. Using digitized ward maps from Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis from the 1800s to the present, this study applied mixed methods to systematically explore and understand the movement of districts over time. We discovered that local governments used redistricting for racially and economically motivated socia…
How Political Dynasties Concentrate Advantage within Cities
Classic models of urban inequality acknowledge the importance of politics for resource distribution and service provision. Yet, contemporary studies of spatial inequality rarely measure politics directly. In this paper, we introduce political dynasties as a way of integrating political economy approaches with ecological theory to better understand the political construction of urban spatial inequality. To do so, we examine the case of political d…
Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (6 works) · Criminology (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Politics (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (3 works) · Economics (3 works)