ABSTRACT
This chapter revisits the research by Judith and Peter Blau published in their seminal article, “The Cost of Inequality: Metropolitan Structure and Violent Crime” (American Sociological Review, 1982). The Blaus’ research had a highly significant influence on the macro-level study of crime among American criminologists, setting the stage for a series of studies that were intended to replicate, extend, or challenge the conclusions advanced by the Blaus. The chapter places the Blaus’ work in intellectual context and explicates the macro-sociological theory that purportedly informed their analyses. It then reviews the Blaus’ arguments and findings, along with the theoretical and empirical controversies stimulated by it. The analysis reveals that the Blaus were unsuccessful in their application of the macro-structural theory, due largely to the lack of systematic attention to racism and its multifaceted manifestations. Nevertheless, the Blaus succeeded in providing a bounty of fruitful puzzles for research, and they helped move racial inequality closer to the forefront of criminological inquiry.
