Urban Political Development and the Social Construction of Interests: The Case of Chicago's Dearborn Park

Abstract

Studies of political power and governance in U.S. cities have long been dominated by political economy approaches in which the material interests of political actors are seen as the principal drivers of preferences and behavior. More recently, scholars from the emerging field of urban political development have questioned this view, arguing that ideas may play an important role—along with material factors—in determining what actors desire. Less understood, however, is where ideas of this nature come from. This article identifies social learning as one possible source. Social learning can be understood as a change in perceptions and behavior that results from experiences of some kind that provide important policy lessons. Through a case study of a near-downtown housing development in Chicago, I show how social learning caused actors to reinterpret their interests and behave in ways contrary to what materialist arguments would predict.