Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 3

For today's post, I took the chance to read another classmate's blog and then comment on it with respect to this week's reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled" from Geographies of Difference: Society and Difference in the West (1995).  I commented on Paul Kaufman's blog, "Down the Block".
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I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Santa Monica, Paul. I like how you mentioned the homeless people and the street performers in the city and how they interact with the people that are shopping there. I wish you would have elaborated a little bit more, and explained what type of interactions occur, how often they occur, and why you think these interactions occur. 

You are right- the quote by Robert E. Park does hold true for the city of Santa Monica because the people in different classes do touch each other but aren't forced to interact with each other. In my blog, I previously stated that I disagreed with Park's quote because I believed that the different people did interpenetrate and interact, but your post made me think that I might be wrong. I think the important thing to also think about is- what really is Robert E. Park's definition of interpenetrate? Does walking by a homeless person and giving them money count as an interaction? Or does it have to be a conversation or the act of lending a helping hand? 

As I read this weeks reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled", I found the section on modern media representations very interesting and relevant to your blog post. The entire article outlines the progression of "imaginary geographies" that create divides between "perfect" and "imperfect" people". This particular section on media discusses how urban society is depicted in television commercials through visions of a divide between purity and pollution. Reading this section and comparing it to your blog causes me to be upset over the reading, which describes the subtle ways modern advertising implies that the city is a dangerous, dirty place, and that we as "pure" people need to be protected from it. I found a Persil laundry commercial that demonstrates this idea, and I think it is the actual one that is mentioned in this week's reading.

1991 Persil Laundry Commercial: 

In his conclusion of the article, David Sibley makes the argument that the boundaries of society have shifted over time, embracing more of the population with less of a class divide. Los Angeles, although it has many separate class divides, is one particular city that doesn't have distinct boundaries and provides its people chances to interact and interpenetrate. Even though the media sometimes makes it seem that the inner city can be a "dirty" place, LA citizens that venture into cities like Santa Monica aren't afraid of these confrontations with lower class citizens. I look forward to further exploring Robert E. Park's concept of "interpenetration" and what that looks for interactions between the "glamorous" and the "struggling" in Los Angeles.