Sin, Slums, and Shady Characters
Sin, Slums, and Shady Characters
Fighting Vice in the Detroit-Windsor Region
In response to the visibility of vice, communities groups, activists, city residents, and government officials came together to fight what they saw as immoral industries destroying their cities. Their efforts produced a complex process of moral regulation in which they sought to define the parameters of proper conduct and to provide solutions to illicit industries in the border cities. This took place through the deployment of three main themes, including urban renewal programs as distinctly anti-vice projects; a fear of transients; and juvenile delinquency. On both sides of the border these themes were formulated through particular class and racial perspectives, which tended to frame urban issues in terms of decay and decline while simultaneously promoting the growth of suburban living, middle-class consumption patterns, good health, and social order. In doing so, anti-vice activism worked to define productive citizenship and community belonging in the border cities.
Keywords: Moral regulation, Juvenile delinquency, Suburbanization, Urban renewal, Transience, Deindustrialization
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