At Whose Expense?

With the publication of her novel, Jane Jacobs became the hero that fought against Robert Moses and his “destructive” urban renewal policies, emphasizing the importance of street life culture, close-knit communities, and decreased intervention of the state to allow for neighborhoods to be cared for solely by its residents. However, her ideas inadvertently inspired a different kind of extreme than Moses’s plan of eradicating the “slums”: neoliberalism (Tochterman 65). With its emphasis on free-market capitalism, neoliberalism was not built to help the people that were exploited by Robert Moses, but instead continued to cater to the upper and middle classes that could afford the means to becoming successful and producing wealth through opportunities that are unavailable to the lower and working classes. Overall, inequality is continuously reproduced at the expense of these classes in the ideal societies of both Robert Moses and neoliberal activists.

In the neoliberal society model advocated by Richard Florida in The Rise of the Creative Class, an emphasis is placed on the culture of society and on the “creative class” that will inspire a successful city free from government intervention. Such a city would represent an “economically vital area” based on the creativity of those who are most intelligent in the arts, sciences and technology (Tochterman 76). Unfortunately, these aspects can only be expected from those who can afford the education and opportunities to become a part of this “creative class,” and, therefore, the model ignores the people of the non-creative class and the people who are unable to access the privileges of society (Tochterman 76,78). They are simply expected to eventually benefit along with the rise of the creative class. This model presents an example of how neoliberalism allows for inequality to thrive in society when emphasizing the importance of one class over all others, whether that be in regards to money, race, or creativity, especially those who have limited means to success in society.

The inequality of neoliberalism has permeated throughout different areas of society, especially in the access to different opportunities and resources. For example, in real estate, the process of gentrification aids in the segregation between concentrations of higher priced, well-off neighborhoods and poor, lower priced neighborhoods. The race and income-based dislocation of communities through gentrification allows for the introduction of those who can afford to pay higher rents (43). The communities, who were affected by real estate practices of “racial steering and blockbusting” through increases in rents, lost their ability to remain in their homes. These populations do not have access to resources that can allow for them to thrive completely on their own. In Kandice Sumner’s Ted Talk, “How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty”, she discussed the inequalities of public schools that are segregated according to neighborhood, overall income, and race. The lack of opportunities and proper amenities necessary for a proper education is based on the inequalities that are brought by a society that values people of the upper classes and people who are not minority populations. Her case represents only one way in which this neoliberal capitalist society without government intervention does not allow for equal opportunity to reach success for all individuals, as would be expected. Instead, it polarizes the population based on its class and race, and provides better conditions and resources for those who can afford it from the beginning.