INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Rodgers, Harrell
The following four essays examine the phenomenon of the Sunbelt from a number of perspectives. ALFRED J. WATKINS begins by examining the rapid growth of the Sunbelt. He argues that the...
...Raza Unida was stimulated by the lack of concern for Chicano needs within the Democratic party...
...Using Texas as an example, Green shows that the evolution of the labor movement in the Sunbelt is about 20 years behind the North...
...Gutierrez believes that one factor that aided Chicano progress was the formation in 1970 of the splinter party Raza Unida...
...Harrell Rodgers q...
...While Raza Unida continues to run candidates, most Chicanos have returned to the Democratic party...
...When Raza Unida began running its own candidates for office, it drew enough support away for the Democratic party to force some concessions...
...Murray's thesis 475 is consistent with that of Green and Watkins...
...The influence of the Chicano population remains less significant than its numbers because of political conflicts within the community and because of exceptionally low rates of participation...
...In many instances the labor movement's political decisions and endorsements have reflected its conservative environment, inhibiting its cooperation with the political left...
...will expand in the Sunbelt, and that it will eventually deprive predatory corporations of their last American frontier...
...GEORGE N. GREEN agrees with Watkins that corporations and their political allies have fought a successful campaign to limit unionization in the Sunbelt...
...He argues that the attraction of the Sunbelt region to business can be traced to the region's low wages, modest taxes, limited unionization, and meager welfare benefits...
...Despite many obstacles, Green is optimistic that the labor movement HARRELL RODGERS is the editor of our special "Sunbelt Society" feature...
...Thus, while businesses hold down wages and unionization in the Sunbelt, they also use selective plant closings and relocations to limit wages and worker militancy in the North...
...RICHARD MURRAY centers attention on the petroleum-based affluence of Houston—the golden bucket of the Sunbelt...
...Taxes, public services, building regulations, and zoning were held in abeyance, while uncontrolled and unplanned growth made the business elite rich and powerful...
...ARMANDO GUTIERREZ examines one of the groups that is most likely to be affected by and play a role in the future of the Sunbelt...
...Until recently, a progrowth elite, composed of builders, contractors, and realtors, has dominated Houston's political system...
...The Sunbelt's "good business climate,'` he continues, has also provided corporations and their political allies with a weapon to use against workers and unions in the North...
...Houston, like the rest of the Sunbelt, has been slower than the rest of the nation in challenging and limiting the role that private economic elites play in the political process...
...The Chicano population is one of the Sunbelt's most impoverished, exploited, politically inactive, and splintered groups...
...A federal court decision requiring that a majority of the city council seats be filled from single-member districts has altered the political elite, and now there are signs of changing political priorities toward a concern for the impact of growth and the quality of life in America's richest city...
...Gutierrez traces the struggle of Hispanics for civil and economic equality, concluding that while progress has been made it is far from complete...
...Gutierrez is unsure what political strategy will be pursued by the Hispanic population, but he notes that a consolidated and active community could play a major role in the Sunbelt's future...
...Watkins suggests a number of reforms to keep corporations from waging this extortion against Northern workers and cities...
Vol. 27 • September 1980 • No. 4
