ancient cities

laws as part of the War on Drugs has led to massive
increase in the prison system in the United States,
such that the country has the highest rates of incarceration
in the world. A majority of persons serving
prison time for drug offenses are from minority
communities, and the expansion of the War on
Drugs has led to an absence of young men from
these neighborhoods and the disenfranchisement of
many adults (in most U.S. states, persons convicted
of a felony are not entitled to vote). Incarceration
reduces the employability of ex-offender young
males, contributing to high rates of unemployment
in disadvantaged communities. High incarceration
rates have effects on families and family structure.
The disproportionate incarceration of males compared
to females leads to a reduction in the number
of males available for marriage, contributing to
higher rates of female-headed families and welfare
dependency in disadvantaged neighborhoods, reinforcing
a cycle of poverty.
City and crime are closely linked and often
mutually reinforcing. Some of the sources of crime
rates are the result of neighborhoods’ social disorganization
and lack of collective efficacy. At the
same time the perception of crime has urban
implications, increasing the perception of fear and
uneasiness and the willingness of the middle and
upper classes to close themselves inside gated
neighborhoods. Global trade of drugs and individuals
reinforce social disorganization at the
local level.
Gustavo S. Mesch
See also Chicago School of Urban Sociology; Gated
Community; Sex and the City; Sex Industry
Further Readings
Cohen, Lawrence E. and Marcus Felson. 1979. “Social
Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity
Approach.” American Sociological Review 44:588–607.
Durkheim, Émile. [1897] 1951. Suicide: A Study in
Sociology. Translated by J. A. Spaulding and G.
Simpson. New York: The Free Press.
Hunter, Albert, and Terry L. Baumer. 1982. “Street
Traffic, Social Integration, and Fear of Crime.”
Sociological Inquiry 52:122–31.
Meier, Robert F. and Terance D. Miethe. 1993.
“Understanding Theories of Criminal Victimization.
Crime and Justice 17:459–99.
Cultural Heritage
193
Ross, Catherine E., John R. Reynolds, and Karlyn J. Geis.
2000. “The Contingent Meaning of Neighborhood
Stability for Residents’ Psychological Well-being.”
American Sociological Review 65:581–97.
Sampson, Robert J. and W. Byron Groves. 1989.
“Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social
Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of
Sociology 94:774–802.
Sampson, Robert J., Jeffrey D. Morenoff, and Felton
Earls. 1999. “Beyond Social Capital: Spatial Dynamics
of Collective Efficacy for Children.” American
Sociological Review 64:633–60.
Shaw, Clifford and Henry D. McKay. 1969. Juvenile
Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Cu l t u r a l hE r i t a g E
Heritage is that which is handed down from the
past; it is what a people have inherited from their
ancestors. Particular to a time and a place, cultural
heritage expresses the cumulative knowledge
and experience of generations, affirming and
enriching cultural identities. As a repository of
human knowledge, and a record of human achievement,
cultural heritage is often considered to be
the legacy not only of a community or a nation
but of humankind.
Cultural heritage is commonly comprised of
historic monuments, museums, archaeological
sites, and masterpieces of art and architecture.
More broadly conceived, it includes the natural
environment, flora and fauna, and natural features
and water systems specific to a place and a time, as
well as a broad variety of material things and
immaterial practices such as inherited physical artifacts,
monuments, buildings, and places. Tangible
heritage can be moveable as in small objects and
artifacts, or immovable such as buildings, streets,
and settlements. Intangible heritage refers to traditions,
myths, religion, beliefs, practices, knowledge,
and language. Heritage transmits the memory
of human societies through forms of expression
and thereby binds material objects to the immaterial
dimensions that lend them meaning.
What survives from the past is irreplaceable. As
a legacy, a storehouse of knowledge, and an identity
of a time, a place, and a people, heritage
should be respected and maintained and passed to