Culture, Cohorts, and Social Organization Theory: Understanding Local Participation in a Latino Housing Project

Abstract

Recent work on neighborhood effects has rekindled interest in social organization theory and its relationship to local social capital. This article addresses several gaps in our knowledge about the mechanisms linking structural conditions to social (dis)organization and the role of culture in this process. Relying on the case of a predominantly Puerto Rican housing project in Boston, it investigates changes in one aspect of social organization—participation in local community activities—suggesting the theory should incorporate the role of cohorts and cultural frames and rethink the relationship among structure, culture, and change.