Manuel Pastor

America fast-forward -- From dream to drag -- Things fall apart -- Setting the stage -- Making change -- What happens in California

What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America's Future

State of Resistance

Implications for Urban Policy

The Economics of the L.A. Uprising

Angela Glover Blackwell

Stewart Kwoh

A wide-ranging and in-depth discussion of the persistently divisive issues surrounding race in this country.

New Dimensions on Race in America

Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground

Chris Benner

Traditional economics is built on the assumption of self-interested individuals seeking to maximize personal gain, but that is far from the whole story. Sharing, caring, and a desire to uphold the collective good are also powerful motives. In a world wracked by inequality, social divisions, and ecological destruction, can we build an alternative economics based on cooperation? In this book Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor invite us to imagine a new sort of solidarity economics – an approach grounded in our instincts for connection and community – and in so doing, actually build a more robust and sustainable economy. They argue that our current economy is already deeply dependent on mutuality, but that the inequality and fragmentation created by the status quo undermine this mutuality and with it our economic well-being. They outline the theoretical framing, policy agenda, and social movements that we need to revive solidarity and apply it to whole societies. Solidarity Economics is an essential read for anyone who longs for a fairer economy that can generate prosperity and preserve the planet.

Why Mutuality and Movements Matter

Solidarity Economics

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo

Race, place, and identity in a changing urban America Over the last five decades, South Los Angeles has undergone a remarkable demographic transition. In South Central Dreams, eminent scholars Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Manuel Pastor follow its transformation from a historically Black neighborhood into a predominantly Latino one, providing a fresh, inside look at the fascinating—and constantly changing—relationships between these two racial and ethnic groups in California. Drawing on almost two hundred interviews and statistical data, Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor explore the experiences of first- and second-generation Latino residents, their long-time Black neighbors, and local civic leaders seeking to build coalitions. Acknowledging early tensions between Black and Brown communities. they show how Latino immigrants settled into a new country and a new neighborhood, finding various ways to co-exist, cooperate, and, most recently, demonstrate Black-Brown solidarity at a time when both racial and ethnic communities have come under threat. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Pastor show how Latino and Black residents have practiced, and adapted innovative strategies of belonging in a historically Black context, ultimately crafting a new route to place-based identity and political representation. South Central Dreams illuminates how racial and ethnic demographic shifts—as well as the search for identity and belonging—are dramatically shaping American cities and neighborhoods around the country.

Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A.

South Central Dreams

In the last several years, much has been written about growing economic challenges, increasing income inequality, and political polarization in the United States. Addressing these new realities in America's metropolitan regions, this book argues that a few lessons are emerging: first, inequity is bad for economic growth; second, bringing together the concerns of equity and growth requires concerted local action; and third, the fundamental building block for doing this is the creation of diverse and dynamic epistemic (or knowledge) communities, which help to overcome political polarization and to address the challenges of economic restructuring and social divides.

What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas

Equity, Growth, and Community

In the so-called 'Age of Obama,' many have mistakenly declared America to now be post-racial. If only it were that simple. The reality is far more complex: we still fail to graduate over one-quarter of young black men on time from high school; our Latino population has actually become the largest minority; and with steadily growing Asian and Native American populations, there is a broad multicultural dimension that must now be added to America's traditional black-white racial dialogue. There are perhaps none better suited to the task than Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of PolicyLink; Stewart Kwoh, president of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center; and Manuel Pastor, professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC. By widening the parameters of the discussion and giving this divisive issue the attention it deserves while providing essential background material, the authors present readers with a crucial text, one that views race from a sociological, economic, political, and even personal perspective. Uncommon Common Ground concludes with a call for leadership, a summoning of all Americans to take up the conversation presented in this book and move forward - not toward some misty-eyed vision of collective hand-holding, but instead toward real racial equality and justice.

Manuel Pastor

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