Reflecting on Gerald Suttles book, The Social Order of the Slum

by Steve Balkin <mar@interaccess.com>

I was reflecting after re-reading Gerald Suttles classic book, The Social Order of the Slum (U. of Chicago Press, 1968). He wrote this book about the remaining parts of a section of the near West Side soon after UIC demolished much of it. The neighborhood included Italian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and African-American enclaves. He focused on the Addams area (his name) which went as far south as Roosevelt Rd. but did not include the old Maxwell Street neighborhood, except for tangential mentions of the border. He describes Maxwell Street as "Below Roosevelt Road is Maxwell Street or "Jew Town," where gypsy fortune tellers and Jewish merchants share the day time hours with the Negro residents." Later he remarks, "The Negroes possess a similar establishment on Roosevelt Road where a combo plays rock and roll on weekends. Rarely, whites will go there when escorted by a Negro." I think he is referring to Mel's Hideaway at the NW corner of Roosevelt and Loomis, the inspiration for the 1961 Freddie King hit, "Hideaway."

Near the end of the book, p. 231, he writes about Reality versus Morality. Below is an excerpt from it, that UIC administrators should read. Maybe in time they can stop stereotyping people and approach the higher morality of "slum dwellers".

• "Occasionally, reference is made to what people should be like, but a far more common concern is the actual character of people and one's own affiliation with them. There is, then, an explicit recognition of the ideal status of public morality and its undependability when applied to "real people." The "real people" that Addams area residents are most concerned about are their neighbors. What they know from general sources, however, only furthers their view that public standards of morality are not a safe guideline for conduct. According to the stereotypes and public channels of communication, their neighbors are an urban rabble prone to riot, pillage, disorder, and crime. The residents know such behavior to be the exception rather than the rule. … The residents express admiration for unrelenting respectability, complete frankness, and a general restraint from force."

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