From the 1970s on, Los Angeles was transformed into a center for entertainment, consumption, and commerce for the affluent. Mirroring the urban development trend across the nation, new construction led to the displacement of low-income and working-class racial minorities, as city officials targeted these neighborhoods for demolition in order to spur economic growth and bring in affluent residents. Responding to the displacement, there emerged a coalition of unions, community organizers, and faith-based groups advocating for policy change. In Building Downtown Los Angeles Leland Saito traces these two parallel trends through specific construction projects and the backlash they provoked. He uses these events to theorize the past and present processes of racial formation and the racialization of place, drawing new insights on the relationships between race, place, and policy. Saito brings to bear the importance of historical events on contemporary processes of gentrification and integrates the fluidity of racial categories into his analysis. He explores these forces in action, as buyers and entrepreneurs meet in the real estate marketplace, carrying with them a fraught history of exclusion and vast disparities in wealth among racial groups.

From the 1970s on, Los Angeles was transformed into a center for entertainment, consumption, and commerce for the affluent. Mirroring the urban development trend across the nation, new construction led to the displacement of low-income and working-class racial minorities, as city officials targeted these neighborhoods for demolition in order to spur economic growth and bring in affluent residents. Responding to the displacement, there emerged a coalition of unions, community organizers, and faith-based groups advocating for policy change. In Building Downtown Los Angeles Leland Saito traces these two parallel trends through specific construction projects and the backlash they provoked. He uses these events to theorize the past and present processes of racial formation and the racialization of place, drawing new insights on the relationships between race, place, and policy. Saito brings to bear the importance of historical events on contemporary processes of gentrification and integrates the fluidity of racial categories into his analysis. He explores these forces in action, as buyers and entrepreneurs meet in the real estate marketplace, carrying with them a fraught history of exclusion and vast disparities in wealth among racial groups.

Contrasting views of race and society make for heated debate in the United States. From the perspective of assimilation, society operates in a fair, open, and meritocratic fashion. Racial discrimination, while not completely eliminated, arguably has little impact on people's life chances. In contrast, research examining the social construction of race has emphasized continued discrimination. Race remains embedded in social, political, and economic institutions, contributing to systemic racism. "The Politics of Exclusion" examines how these debates about race--and the proper role of government in addressing issues of race--shape public policy.
Investigating three case studies, that involve economic redevelopment, historic preservation, and redistricting in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles, Saito illustrates the enduring presence of racial considerations and inequality in public policy. Individuals and groups who may sincerely characterize themselves as free of racial prejudice still participate, though perhaps unwittingly, in practices that have racialized outcomes.

Contrasting views of race and society make for heated debate in the United States. From the perspective of assimilation, society operates in a fair, open, and meritocratic fashion. Racial discrimination, while not completely eliminated, arguably has little impact on people's life chances. In contrast, research examining the social construction of race has emphasized continued discrimination. Race remains embedded in social, political, and economic institutions, contributing to systemic racism. "The Politics of Exclusion" examines how these debates about race--and the proper role of government in addressing issues of race--shape public policy.
Investigating three case studies, that involve economic redevelopment, historic preservation, and redistricting in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles, Saito illustrates the enduring presence of racial considerations and inequality in public policy. Individuals and groups who may sincerely characterize themselves as free of racial prejudice still participate, though perhaps unwittingly, in practices that have racialized outcomes.

California's San Gabriel Valley has been called an incubator for ethnic politics. Located a mere fifteen minutes from Los Angeles, the valley is a brave new world of multiethnic complexity.

Here Latinos and Asian Americans are the dominant groups, rather than the minorities they are elsewhere in the United States. Politics are Latino-dominated, while a large infusion of Chinese immigrants and capital has made the San Gabriel Valley the center of the nation's largest Chinese ethnic economy. The white population has dropped from an overwhelming majority in 1970 to a minority in 1990.

Leland T. Saito presents an insider's view of the political, economic, and cultural implications of this ethnic mix. He examines how diverse residents of the region have worked to overcome their initial antagonisms and develop new, more effective political alliances.

By tracing grass-roots political organization along racial and ethnic lines, Race and Politics focuses on the construction of new identities, especially the panethnic affiliation "Asian American".