ABSTRACT
This part of the book focuses on stratification structures and processes and how they apply to people residing in different types of urban communities. Here in the opening chapter, I elaborate on how stratification and often segregation of people because of race, ethnicity, class, and gender has resulted in different types of urban communities. Anchoring that discussion is the distinction that is made between ghettos and enclaves, which will allow the examination of the historical development of white ethnic enclaves in American cities. A discussion of the emergence and consequences of African American ghettos in early twentieth-century cities follows. Of particular relevance to us here is the experience of African Americans in the highrise apartment projects of post-World War II-the quintessential hyperghetto. The chapter will also discuss gentrification processes and the transformation of American cities. I conclude with a study of urban homelessness.
