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Neighborhood Comparison of the Upper and Poor Class

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Submitted By castledine
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Neighborhood Comparison of the Upper and Poor Class
Introduction
Income, race, ethnicity, religion and culture all have profound impacts on neighborhoods. Some impacts consist of area appearance, transportation options, friendliness, safety options, and lack of resources. This week I visited a poor and upper class neighborhood at two different hours of the day. The first day I visit the poor class neighborhood call Lincoln Heights in Monroe Louisiana at 8:00 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. The second day I visited a Rich class neighborhood called Lakewood at the same times. The differences between the upper and poor class were astonishing. This paper will describe the differences and similarities between the upper and poor class neighborhood, what distinguishes the wealthy neighborhood from the poor neighborhood, what caused me to believe one was wealthier than the other, and how culture and religion impact the neighborhoods.
Differences and Similarities When visiting Lincoln Heights at 8:00 A.M. I noticed that everyone was heading to their jobs. The transportation was very different from those of Lakewood. In Lincoln heights people were riding bicycles, driving older models vehicles, while others were walking to a bus location 2 miles from their neighborhood. During my assessment, I noticed that there was much diversity throughout the poor neighborhood. There were Caucasians, African Americans and Mexican Americans and all seemed to be greeting each other as they were passing. The safety conditions lacks greatly. There were no sidewalks for the cyclists and pedestrians. The only way out of the neighborhood was to walk directly on the road. I then took notice of the area appearance. Some buildings and houses looked unsafe, yards weren’t mowed and cluttered with objects, and trash had been thrown in certain locations. I left and came back at 7:00 P.M. I noticed that there were a lot of men outside drinking alcoholic beverages and becoming very loud. I was their 2 hours when a fight in the neighborhood began and the police were called. I also discovered that there wasn’t a neighborhood watch person. The next day I went to visit Lakewood at 8:00 in the morning and was amazed at how beautiful the houses were. The houses were all two story houses that looked very sturdy and safe. Residents looked as if they all owned newer model vehicles, there were sidewalks on both sides of the road, yards were all mowed, and there were no trash visible. However, Lakewood lacked diversity drastically. The only racial category I noticed was Caucasian Americans. I never saw one African American or Mexican American. This was very shocking to me, to find no diversity watch so ever in a community. I left and came back at 7:00 to discover no human movement other then children playing in yards and people walking to their mail boxes. By 8:00 P.M. I noticed a neighborhood watch person patrolling the area. My research when visiting these places suggested to me that lack of income causes the most impact in differences between the poor and rich neighborhoods.
Distinguishing the Wealthy From the Poor Neighborhood The safe conditions, obvious high income and transportation distinguished the wealthy from the poor neighborhood. When visiting the Lincoln Heights everyone was driving older model cars, walking to bus stations, and riding bicycles. In Lakewood, everyone seemed to have an automobile that was a seemingly newer model. Lincoln Heights safety conditions were very poor. There were no sidewalks for people, houses looked in terrible condition, there was no neighborhood watch person, and the police were called to the neighborhood because of a fist fight. The safety conditions in Lakewood were up to date. There were sidewalks on each side of the road, and a neighborhood watch person. There appearance was clean, yards mowed and no trash to speak of while Lincoln Heights had trash in many areas of the neighborhood.
Why I Believed One Neighborhood was Wealthier Then the Other I believed Lincoln Heights was poor because of the high crime rates in the areas and the obvious law income. A study by the Christian Association for Prison Aftercare suggests that there is direct correlation poverty and crime (Williams, 2007). People who are poor are more likely to commit crimes of theft, and burglary (Williams, 2007). “Research suggests that people who commit crimes will only commit them if the consequences are outweighed by the benefit of the gain (Schmalleger, 2011).” When someone is poor, they may feel that the potential gain will outweigh the consequences such as getting food on the table, and paying rent. I also believed it to be poor because of the appearance. Through my experiences, I have noticed then when people have low income, they can’t afford most resources to keep area appearance up such as lawn mowers and weed eaters. They also can’t afford to maintain safe conditions and good appearance of their homes.
How Culture and Religion Impacted the Neighborhoods When I was visiting Lincoln Heights and Lakewood, I was unable to determine what religions the residents chose. I don’t believe that culture and religion impacted Lincoln Heights and Lakewood would at all. I believe that income played the only impact in these two communities. In order to understand how religion impacts the community, one would have to speak with several different people from the communities to learn of the many different religions practiced in the communities. The religions people practice in the community could impact how people treat each other in a community. Some religions influence prejudice and cause discrimination against racial categories and sexual orientation. “The Christian religion promotes nonjudgmental character. However, in contradiction to that belief, it also motivates prejudices against same sex relationships (American Baptist Association, 2012)”. Religion can play an important role in how you treat people. Treating people with hate in a community can only cause conflict. “Culture is the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group (Schaefer, 2012).” This could impact neighborhoods in a profound way as well. Incorporating certain behaviors and beliefs in a certain neighborhood could cause conflict because of the diverse culture and one culture would go against another. “For example, The Amish community dedicates their lives to religion and their ways are also part of a culture. Most Amish communities refuse to use electronic devices while other cultures do. Some Amish communities even refuse to use automobiles (Hostetle, 1993).” Culture affects the ways of life in a community. However, Lincoln Heights and Lakewood seemed to be strictly affected by income and was divided by diversity.
Conclusion
As mentioned income, race, ethnicity, religion and culture all have an impact on communities. However Lakewood and Lincoln Heights were only impacted by Income. The poor conditions, area appearance, unsafe condition, unsafe homes, and crime rates were a big indicator of being a poor neighborhood. Transportation was a problem for Lincoln Heights because the residents were walking, riding a bike or driving older model automobiles. Lakewood was a beautiful area with safe conditions, sidewalks, neighborhood watch. Transportation wasn’t a problem because all residents seemed to have vehicles. The lack of diversity in Lakewood was astonishing because it seemed to only reside Caucasians while Lincoln heights resided a several different racial categories. These two neighborhoods were divided strictly by money and diversity. Religions went unnoticed and both seemed to implement the culture of today’s society. High crime rates and area appearance lead me to believe that Lincoln Heights was a poor neighborhood. Research suggests that poor commit more law violations and also when an area is poor people tend to lack the resources to keep area appearance up. Lakewood lead me to believe that it was a rich neighborhood because of the expensive homes, safe conditions, area appearance and new automobiles. Culture went unnoticed to me in both neighborhoods because they both reflected on today’s culture in society. After researching these two neighborhoods, I realize exactly how important it is to the success of a community.

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