A Micro-Sociology of an Emerging Global City: Miami

Abstract:This essay seeks to contribute to the contemporary literature on urbanization by focusing on the internal diversity existing in one emerging global city—Miami. We present first overall economic characteristics of this metropolitan area before discussing characteristics of three pairs of municipalities within it. These localities were deliberately selected to highlight contrasts and disparities in the history and present situation of specific places that tend to be ignored or bypassed in general descriptions of a given metropolitan area. A focus on these disparities provides a necessary tool to fully understand the dynamics of urbanization under contemporary capitalism.