ABSTRACT

Introduction 13 1 Power, interests and causality 21

Two models of political inactivity 23 The problem of relativism 33 Causality and constraint 48 Competent rule use and the generation of bias 59

2 Housing, class interests and political action 66 The neo-Weberian approach and the concept of housing

classes 67 Marxist approaches : owner-occupation as ideology 76 The economic significance of house ownership 84 Some possible implications for Weberian and Marxist

approaches 93

3 The new urban politics 103 Collective consumption, contradictions and the rise of

urban social movements 105 A critical evaluation of the Castells thesis New politics, old dilemmas

113 127

4 The question of the local state 137 State policies: functions and causes 140 Theoretical perspectives on the state 150 The local state and the problem of autonomy 189

Part 2 Empirical applications

Introduction 201

5 The local authority 209 Social composition 210 The local council : internal relations 216 The local council: external relations 230

6 The deep south 237 The suburban middle class and the political elite 239 A green and pleasant land 244 The middle class up against it? 259

7 Participation and protest 273 The participatory response: competing agreement 278 The protest response: non-competing contradiction 290

8 Business interests and local policy 297 The town centre redevelopment 299 A community of interest and sentiment 309 Policy-making and corporate representation 319

9 The sociology of urban politics research 325 The problem of identification 328 Theory and methodology 336 The political context 346

List of references 353 Index of subjects 373 Index of names 379