This article investigates the effects of social cohesion, social support, social control, and active local community participation on neighborhood satisfaction among individuals living in Los Angeles County. Utilizing the LAFANS dataset and proportional odds regression models, the authors find that net of individual demographic and socioeconomic status, perceptions of social cohesion, and social control are associated with greater levels of neighborhood satisfaction, whereas perceptions of neighborhood social support have no effect on satisfaction. Furthermore, formal involvement in one’s neighborhood is associated with greater levels of satisfaction only in certain contexts and only for certain types of involvement.

This study helps to disentangle the mutual effects of neighborhood disorder and social cohesion on how residents evaluate their neighborhoods. We draw upon data from the 2009 Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey to understand how neighborhood cohesion, physical disorder, and perceptions of crime and safety influence neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood quality of life among residents in the dynamic, yet understudied, urban context of Las Vegas, Nevada. We use ordinary least squares and binary logistic regression to predict two measures of neighborhood satisfaction. Our results show that even with significant neighborhood disorder, social connectedness with neighbors remains a significant predictor of neighborhood satisfaction. We discuss implications of neighborhood satisfaction research for other fast-changing metropolitan areas.

The rise of mass consumerism through the twentieth century triggered numerous critiques and challenges that have positioned consumption practices as key areas of struggle. Anti‐consumption movements and subcultures have emerged to resist the declining quality of life created by consumer culture and to issue a moral critique of unsustainable consumption. They oppose the ideology of consumerism, which supports an inherently oppressive, global capitalist system by persuading people to consume more than they need. Anti‐consumption tactics such as dumpster diving and culture jamming help individuals resist and challenge oppressive consumerism.

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) was a Frankfurt School philosopher and a Marxist, who helped develop critical theory and whose intellectual influence spans the humanities and social sciences. Most of his work has only been published relatively recently, and has largely remained fragmented and unfinished. He covered a breadth of topics in history, modernity, religiosity, art, literature, and technology.

Raymond Williams was a founder of cultural studies. He was among the first scholars to take popular culture seriously. He redefined culture as an entire way of life, deconstructing the distinction between high and low culture. His body of work spanned 30 years and was ever evolving. His key contributions were the theory of cultural materialism, the concept of structure of feeling, and his politics of representation. He thought of culture as inherently political and was personally politically active with the British Left and a devoted Marxist his entire life.