RUNNING HEAD: Watts and the 1965 Los Angeles riots
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Abstract
The present paper examines the concrete conditions under which urban areas become and
remain stigmatized as “bad neighborhoods.” Specifically, we are interested in
determining why the Watts neighborhood, situated in the area affected by civil
disturbances in 1965 and 1992, is the Los Angeles epicenter of “fear.” Three hypothetical
causes are proposed: 1) actual level of danger to personal safety due to level of
criminality 2) stigmatization by association with the 1992 civil unrest episode and 3)
stigmatization by association with the 1965 “Watts riots.” Spatial cluster analysis
provides evidence that the closest spatial event associated with the epicenter of subjective
fear is the 1965 event. The proposed explanation for this finding is the role played by
media during periods of intense social incandescence. During and since the 1965 events
media coverage has used Watts as shorthand for the racial problems of the city. Greater
fear of Watts in the maps of those who rely heavier on television for social and personal
orientation provides support for this proposition.
Convention