In the Klinenberg article, the naturalization of the deaths that took place due to poor living conditions and a striated social community reminds me of (in more drastic terms, of course,) the various recovery rates that different neighborhoods, or even establishments within the same neighborhood had after Superstorm Sandy.
The Brookdale Campus, which is known for its uncommonly cheap residential prices and also houses many scholarship students who do not pay for housing at all, remained closed for approximately two months after Superstorm Sandy, whereas the Waterside Plaza apartments, which charge approximately $2500 a month was fully functional within a week of the incident. The correlation may seem obvious at first — the establishments with with more money were able to repair their damages more quickly because, well frankly, repairs are expensive — but a closer inspection will reveal that that was not quite the case.
The reason Brookdale took so much longer to reopen than the Waterside Plaza is that Brookdale’s standard of living at the time of Superstorm Sandy was much lower than that of the Waterside Plaza. Ritz and glam and frills aside, Brookdale’s electrical system was in shambles before the storm hit, finally drawing attention to the matter. While Brookdale officials did not feel the need to keep the building’s facilities up to par for the sake of a bunch of college students, the staff at the Waterside Plaza knew it would be unacceptable to their residents if they did not prepare adequately for the impending storm. Neither party knew that Superstorm Sandy would have such devastating effects on downtown manhattan, but one party did feel obligated to prepare, lest their wealthy (and notably, caucasian) residents be forced to frown.