This was a very in-depth paper! The statistical approach was very well thorough, that was nice. I really didn’t like hearing how interpersonal ties are “critical”, since that kind of job and opportunity system only works for those who have lots of relatives or friends from the home country here. That is not the same impression as the one of America being “the land of opportunity” gives off.
The author gives the impression that he disagrees with the observation that the West End community is “cohesive”, and he reasons that because the community did not fight against urban renewal that destroyed it. I feel like just because the community did not organize political movements doesn’t mean it is less cohesive with one another. In some communities, support of each other is present even if people do not feel like they should change the politics of the area they live in. Also it can be that people feel powerless politically or have no faith in their ability to bring about political change.
Also the fact that people don’t act on mass-media information unless it is told to them through actual people they know is also sensible, since one hears a lot about how mass media is used to lie to people and to manipulate people. If someone a person knows tells them some information, it is much more likely to be taken seriously. The idea of trust in leaders also fits in here well since government is also not too trustworthy overall, so people rely on the repots of those they know personally to tell them if a leader is to be trusted.