Unforeseen by Theory

Mike Davis, uber-urbanist, sums up his take on globalization and urbanism in an interview at Tomdispatch: "Stunningly enough, classical social theory, whether Marx, Weber, or even Cold War modernization theory, none of it anticipated what's happened to the city over the last 30 or 40 years. None of it anticipated the emergence of a huge class, mainly of the young, who live in cities, have no formal connection with the world economy, and no chance of ever having such a connection. This informal working class isn't the lumpenproletariat of Karl Marx and it isn't the "slum of hope," as imagined 20 or 30 years ago, filled with people who will eventually climb into the formal economy. Dumped into the peripheries of cities, usually with little access to the traditional culture of those cities, this informal global working class represents an unprecedented development, unforeseen by theory."

There's much more in this interview: about L.A., the riots, San Diego, Marxism, militarization, gangs, and the culture of American fear. Definitely worth a read. (picture from the geography dept at Berkeley).