ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING!!!!

Sampson is a Social Psychologist that studies the factors of human motility. He finds that several different factors attribute to motility in Chicago. I agree with all he states, but  I would also like to discuss a few factors he mentioned but failed to elaborate on. First, for many underprivileged and low income families the idea of escaping the ghetto is a dream that they realize they may never achieve; However, for their children they may believe that by proper schooling and more opportunities their children may be able to escape the deathly hold of impoverishment and despair. For many people the idea of a better education for their children is enough to move.

Another reason people leave the ghetto ix because of the promise of a better future. As we talked about in previous chapters, people of a community contribute to collective efficacy. As people contribute to this collective efficacy, they become more and more knowledgeable about their surroundings. This knowledge effectively shapes the attitudes and opinions of people in that community. As these opinions degenerate into fear and anxiety about the safety and security of the community, this will make people look for an escape. This escape may also be triggered by a single traumatic experience. Included in the escape is not only leaving that neighborhood but also leaving any association or bad experience behind. As they move into the new neighborhood, they forget many of the past experiences. As people forget about the past they are condemned to repeat it causing a even greater degeneration in the new community. I believe that failure to look at past problems is one of the reasons collective efficacy is diminishing and gap between the poor in the ghetto and the wealthier in the suburbs.  

Looking at this problem from a biological stand point one phrase comes to mind,"Survival of the Fittest." as neighborhoods collapse into a crime infested swamp, only the hardened will be able to withstand the changes. Sampson showed that inner-city mobility caused a decrease in household income. I believe that this is due to lower collective efficacy and tolerance. I have already addressed collective efficacy in the previous paragraph however, tolerance for crime is increasing because the people are becoming hardened and crime is the norm rather than the exception. Thus we see that people that endure hardships become hardened to crime so that makes them more likely to be able to find mates and reproduce.

I would like to make one final remark about a very select few that escape the ghetto and make it big in what ever occupation they pursue. Some people do become very successful movie stars, sports players, politicians or businessmen and women. As people realize their talents they take advantage of them and this enables them to move up in their field of occupation.    

looking at these three situations that could be present I feel we could narrow down the answer, to the question why people move, to two responses. First, people move because of the promise of a better future or second, in response to a negative situation. One may look at the second and say if one is in a negative situation leaving it would be the promise of a better future. I argue that they are different because many people plan on living in the ghetto their entire life and realize that they will probably never leave. In this case they are not moving into a better community they are only escaping that traumatic experience. 

As people fall into the rut of poverty and cannot escape I call it the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect.