Urban Mascots and Poverty Fetishism

Authenticity in the Postindustrial City

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2363352
AutoresTerressa A Benz (0000-0003-3131-4689, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume59
Fascículo2
Páginas460-478
Data de publicação2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociological Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0731-1214 • E-ISSN: 1533-8673
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0731121415583103
OpenAlexW2322071022
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências 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