This paper examines the proposition that the dual social character of
urban America is mostly a product of US political choices during this
century. In responding to the emerging imperatives of economic restruc
turing and racial transformation, federal, state, and local officials
pursued a Jeffersonian notion of urban politics. The author argues tha
t this response has diminished the nation's political capability for a
chieving community-building solutions to public problems in local poli
tics, thereby creating more polarized metropolitan areas.