Stacked Decks : Building Inspectors and the Reproduction of Urban Inequality

**A surprising look at the power and perspectives of city building inspectors as they seek to navigate within the inequalities of today’s housing environment.** Though we rarely see them at work, building inspectors have the power to significantly shape our lives through their discretionary decisions. The building inspectors of Chicago are at the heart of sociologist Robin Bartram’s analysis of how individuals affect—or attempt to affect—housing inequality. Using both ethnography and statistical analysis of the building inspectors who respond to complaints about housing conditions in Chicago, Bartram calls attention to the importance of these frontline workers and the power of their agency. In __Stacked Decks__, she reveals surprising patterns in the judgment calls inspectors make when deciding whom to cite for building code violations. These predominantly white, male inspectors largely recognize that they work within an unequal housing landscape that systematically disadvantages poor people and people of color through redlining, property taxes, and city spending that favor wealthy neighborhoods. While they often act out of a desire to bring justice to this uneven playing field by penalizing those perceived as advantaged, __Stacked Decks__ illustrates the uphill battle inspectors face when trying to change a housing system that works against those with the fewest resources. "Sociologist Robin Bartram here uses both ethnography and statistical analysis to show how the actions of individuals affect--or attempt to affect--housing inequality. And the individuals at the heart of this book are Chicago's building inspectors. Though we rarely see them at work, building inspectors have the power to significantly shape our lives through their discretionary decisions. Using a mixed-methods analysis of the building inspectors who respond to complaints about housing conditions in Chicago, Bartram both calls attention to the importance of these frontline workers and the power of their agency as she reveals surprising patterns in the judgment calls inspectors make when deciding whom to cite for building code violations. The inspectors (mostly men, mostly white) recognize that they work within an uneven housing landscape, one that systematically disadvantages poor people and people of color through redlining, property taxes, and city spending that favor wealthy neighborhoods. Though they often act out of a desire to bring justice to the uneven playing field by penalizing those perceived as advantaged, these stabs at justice do little to change a housing system that works against those with the fewest resources."-- Provided by publisher A startling look at the power and perspectives of city building inspectors as they navigate unequal housing landscapes. Though we rarely see them at work, building inspectors have the power to significantly shape our lives through their discretionary decisions. The building inspectors of Chicago are at the heart of sociologist Robin Bartram’s analysis of how individuals impact—or attempt to impact—housing inequality. In Stacked Decks , she reveals surprising patterns in the judgment calls inspectors make when deciding whom to cite for building code violations. These predominantly white, male inspectors largely recognize that they work within an unequal housing landscape that systematically disadvantages poor people and people of color through redlining, property taxes, and city spending that favor wealthy neighborhoods. Stacked Decks illustrates the uphill battle inspectors face when trying to change a housing system that works against those with the fewest resources.