ABSTRACT
Race was the dominant theme of the discourse during these years of riots and unrest, but it was not the only element of urban decline to be put into discursive play. The modern city was undergoing what would be viewed in retrospect as a profound transformation in economic function. Its once-defining factories were closing down, and manufacturing employment was shrinking. Simultaneously, new office buildings were being built for expanding financial and business services and for the administrative headquarters of far-flung corporations. Overall, though, most large cities experienced a net loss of jobs, and this worsened local fiscal conditions. City governments were blocked from implementing the most obvious solution: the annexation of suburban areas where people and jobs were on the rise. The out-migration of middle class households, moreover, increased the proportion of poor and minority households within the cities. Government responses, particularly urban renewal, were increasingly deemed inadequate.
