Modern Day "Civil" Society

 

The stark contrast in the forms and general care towards the buildings in the foreground of the image to the background exemplifies Jeffrey C. Alexander’s description of regionalism in The Civil Sphere, where he writes about how civil societies create internal consequences. Toward the foreground of the image there are lower-rise buildings that simultaneously appear over-worn and destitute. These buildings contrast the ones in the background that are much taller with pointy architecture leading toward the sky, constructed with glass making it appear more industrial. This picture juxtaposes the rich-cvil and poor-unvcivil notion that Alexander explains. This image depicts residential segregation in Philadelphia in the modern day, supporting Alexander’s claim that “long term presence in essentialized places can cleanse and purify primordial qualities allowing variations on a common theme” (Alexander 2006: 201); he implies that oppressive systems can be consistent throughout time and changes in civil society, just manifested in different ways. Residential segregation describes the phenomenon where racial minorities are separated geographically within a larger urban space and different resources and care are allocated to these places as a result. These areas are primarily minority and lower income residents who are exposed to greater levels of environmental pollution and are separated from networks that their white counterparts have access to. Alexander writes about how binary structures are created through the environment, as he writes that “actors are not intrinsically moral or immoral, they are determined by where they are placed in civil structure” (Alexander 2006:55). By placing binary moral descriptions over the spaces and people that constitute a neighborhood, the mistreatment of people in these areas is justified. The binary structures that separate groups represent the social relationships between those that are active, reasonable, self-controlled, and sane from those that are characterized as dependent, hysterical, distorted, and mad. The increased subjective moral distance between various actors allow for the creation of a physical distance that Alexander argued “formed the basis for repressive closure movements, for the constructions of ghettos, for brutal and aggressive exercises in forced incorporation and for secessionist movements and for civil wars” (Alexander 2006:199). As a result, moral judgments are implicated offering a specific way to act towards these groups and ways value them according to how the rest of society does. 

Citation:

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 2006. “Discourses and Contradictions .” Pp. 53–209 in The Civil Sphere: Jeffrey C. Alexander. New York: Oxford University Press.

Barber S, Headen I, Branch B, Tabb L, Yadeta K. COVID-19 in Context: Racism, Segregation and Racial Inequities in         Philadelphia: Drexel University Urban Health Collaborative; June 2020.