Partha P. Choudhury

MLMLA 6393 Houston: The Course

Dr. Jon R. Taylor

August 2, 2012

If ever there were a city more synonymous with the issue of commerce, it is in fact the

City of Houston. Second only to New York City in the aggregate number of Fortune 500

companies in the US, the spirit of business and private enterprise is ever the motif that the city

and its populace are dictated by. Regarded with distinction among major US cities, Houston

boasts itself as the 4th largest metropolitan area in the United States and has already dispatched

Los Angeles, California into becoming second-place in terms of multiculturalism and it being a

chief hub for immigrants to attain a degree of upward social mobility all the while enjoying a

high standard of living at a cost that is proportionately much lower than most other major

metropolitan locales in the US. In its demeanor and pursuits, Houston has outpaced other cities

in terms of laudable achievements in the economic sphere, aeronautical engineering, its Medical

Center, athleticism, the performing arts and music, higher education and diversity in population

that lends itself to the notion that we’re absolutely not backwards in outlook but rather that we

are forward-thinking and progressive; that this city can set a standard for what very well might

become the new societal shifts in the US in terms of a diverse population, economic incentives

for those who want to work hard and the general degree of political ideology that has proved

itself not to be too rigid but malleable whenever there’s a collective will to get behind a

commendable goal.

Houston’s reputation is preceded by the fact that there are just so many issues all at the

same time and much of it very newsworthy. My chief purpose in writing this research paper for

this course is to provide an insight into the economic sphere of the city of Houston by citing

sources that have proved to be emblematic of the economic activities of the city and having

insights into the City of Houston that represent a fair degree of upward positivism in terms of

commerce, but also does provide insights into how a city such as Houston in contrast to other

locales can and ultimately did prove its mettle which has now resulted in its being hailed as a

global city. Using a motley number of sources that attest to the genuine American spirit of

Houston, I’ll go one further and apply an economical measurement that had already deemed

Houston to be a global city even with within the time period of 20 years. In its scope, this paper

takes into account many of the perspectives of economists and academics who have purposefully

written these papers with not only a sociopolitical posturing, but in many instances betray

themselves as having a sociological bent as well.

The context of the economic miracle of Houston is made evident by The Global Context

of Metropolitan Growth: Houston and the Oil Industry, written by Professor Joe R. Feagin of the

University of Texas at Austin. In it, Professor Feagin regards the City of Houston as a case study

and recounts that many of the factors of business bonanza embodied in the success of Houston

cannot be reproduced in other cities due to factors such as geography, climate and also Feagin

provides an adequate commentary on the business-friendly atmosphere of Houston that’s not as

curtailed by regulation of business and in many instances lack governmental oversight that is in

turn deferred by the tacit approval of many sectors of the local and federal government that has

let the growth of Houston go on unabated. Hearkening back to the time of the Allen brothers

from the American northeast who had purchased the tract of land, bayou and swamp and then

called it the City of Houston, Feagin provides enough insight into the spirit of commerce in

Houston that has had its foundations set by the cotton and railroad services in Houston at a time

of American expansionism of the frontier and the American West. From there and onward,

Feagin applies two dual terms in the distinction of Houston that set the tone for the rest of the

paper: “’capital of the Sunbelt’ and the ‘oil capital of the United States’”(Feagin, 1985, 1205).

Even in regards to the antiquated date of publication of this article, the City of Houston had

surpassed many other American cities in terms of size of municipality and population alone.

Feagin says that what makes Houston an outlier when compared to other cities in the American

South is its cosmopolitan appeal in which there’s a steady climate of upward social mobility in

terms of people in its industries, and since the sense of opportunism in the prospect of raking

fortunes surpasses any sort of prejudicial notions, Houston has deftly avoided what many

Southern states had become pariahs to and established a spirit of cooperation with the American

northeast, specifically New York City. And that much is attributed to its oil production and

markets.

This lends itself to the article written by Igor Vojnovic, Laissez-Faire Governance And

The Archetype Laissez-Faire City In The USA: Exploring Houston. Houston, as the archetypical

city in which business interests are given deference rather than scrutiny sets the template for this

article. In spite of the electoral lead that the Democratic Party holds in the City of Houston, the

platform of the party which dictates so much of the political culture in Democratic strongholds in

the Pacific Northwest as well as the American Northeast aren’t applicable to Houston in terms of

the clout that specifically moneyed interests have here. This is buoyed by the dissimilarity of the

state at large which is Republican and thoroughly pro-business. And Vojnovic attributes this to

the stature of the established Republican influence of the state which permeates itself through to

Houston, Democratic though it may be. He recounts the incentives with which politicians will

attract corporations to Houston and specifically the embracing of corporate culture. With

powerful lobbyists on hand, this entails quite a bit of nepotism in the economic sector to the

detriment of the public services and welfare system in a state such as Texas which has an affinity

for less government and more emphasis on society at large to have a private initiative whenever

it comes to welfare assistance. “The minimum government philosophy in Houston is supported

by strong cultural beliefs in self-reliance and individualism” (Vojnovic, 2003, 19). Since

Houston, with its oil industry in production and trade commodities, had established itself as not

needing the sort of dependency upon governmental assistance during the greater part of the Great

Depression, the repudiation of state-assisted funding goes against the very ethos of the state with

a tradition of self-reliance. Seemingly that goes beyond partisanship. In states that stigmatize

unionists and collective bargaining from unions, the “right to work” state nomenclature is

evident in the designation that Vojnovic is willing to do. In a state without a corporate or income

tax, the act of comity with business interests has attracted sizeable attention from various sectors

of corporate society who wholeheartedly agree with low taxes and still maintain a record of

commendable local civic and philanthropic activities in a region that is grateful just to have their

business. And seeing the fact that Houston is second only to New York City in the number of

Fortune 500 companies who are headquartered here, the perks of corporate citizenship are apt to

be less cumbersome in a city that insists upon the essence of laissez-faire. With the oil industry

looming large in Houston, Vojnovic prophetically declares that without the oil and petroleum

market, Houston’s significance and prestige would take a huge dive and its distinction among

other major US cities would no longer be a rallying point for the political and business elites to

vouch for Houston’s free-market enterprise principles. With enough revenue collected from

corporations that do business here, and despite the relatively low cost of it, this in turn again

recalls Feagin’s analysis of Houston as a case study that is an exclusive outlier in which

enterprise has graciously shined here and will thrive here specifically for the reason of the energy

trade.

In Energy and Urban Growth: A Comparison of Houston and Chicago, Professor Harold

L. Platt delineates to the reader the extent to which finding a fuel source and the adequate

marketing, production and the propagation of uses for it led to Houston’s ascendency from a

frontier market of fuel to a pioneer market which he attributes to the invention of the automobile

as well as better refining methods and innovations in technology that had provided a momentous

change in the output of oil. In Chicago’s still enviable occupation of it being a more significant

financial epicenter in the US, hence the world, its position had largely been beset by its

geography and the fact that its insular. The trade, extraction, delivery and transportation of coal

headquartered in Chicago provided a huge percentage of revenue for this city and its proximity

to the Midwest United States made it a chief economic hub where people had achieved a

respectable livelihood. Platt says that cities that had the distinction of being producers and

conveyers of the energies commodities market are able to have burgeoning growth and cites that

it was coal in Chicago and oil in Houston that provided a historical picture of how it is that cities

experience rapid growth and don’t have periodic stagnation. A historical narrative of the city of

Galveston being washed away and devastated by a hurricane in 1900 had ultimately set the tone

and diminished the rivalry between Houston and Galveston in terms of the sociopolitical and

economic contesting from these two cities. Also another bonus for Houston in the energy market

was the ready depletion of coal and the advent of oil and gas as the next wave of production.

With the invention of the automotive industry, incentivizing this market involved quite a bit of

federal governmental subsidies which Houston had been privy to, much to its benefit.

Within the context of these articles, a composite of Houston as an American test case and

a city that is worthy of being comparable to other major US cities is conveyed in Economic

Restructuring And The American City, written by Professor Saskia Sassen of Columbia

University in New York. Setting the tone for this article, the exclusive sectors of the US

economy makes for what every specific major US city is distinguished by. Distinction among

major cities in the US is concentrated largely by what niche market these cities practice in the

US financial market, thus setting the standard and the precedent in which very little room is

made for outside markets and niches. New York City’s distinctions are its legal and banking

sectors as well as it being the center where stocks and commodities are traded in the New York

Stock Exchange. Boston is distinctive because of its insurance industry and risk management

firms and services and Houston is regarded as the energy capital of the US. Within the symbiotic

nature of the US economy in which the whole is an aggregate sum and the fact that many of

these industries are interdependent upon each other, Sassen applies it to the disparity of wages

and earnings distribution and cites often throughout this article the disenfranchisement of

minorities concentrated in large cities. Taken from the viewpoint of an urban sociologist, this

article also hinges upon precedent reforms in employment such as worker’s rights and unions in

procuring for them and other workers the inherent rights that contribute to security and an

adequate amount of proportionate representation. In the article, Sassen cites Houston as having

an overrepresentation in the oil and gas industry as well as the real estate market but lags behind

other cities when it comes to industries that draw quite a bit of water in those cities. Rather ever

in tandem with the trend of a globalized economy, Houston reaches out to other cities and

expedites these services over to them. As it relates to the societal impact of restructuring the

economy to meet this trend, immigration to hubs such as Houston ensure that there’s a bit of

deference given to disenfranchised minorities who might be more productive in manufacturing

jobs, establishing an adequate revenue for the city that just can’t disregard them utterly.

Taken from the context of a globalized economy, one can infer that during a time when

much of governance is dictated by the needs and necessities of the market, Sassen asks the

question of whether local politics matter in a time when markets produce political outcomes. In

the end of this piece, Sassen sees not only local governments providing security against certain

industry initiatives and practices that might be harmful to workers, but makes it a point to

include third party representatives and government oversight who provide at least a modicum of

regulation. In Houston, despite trending towards the Democratic party which usually provides

the ideological precedent of these notions, it is largely industry that has won this debate.

A political ambiguity of Houston, despite its being one of the bastions of the Democratic

party in Texas, is that in spite of this affiliation, a great degree of conservative nostalgia is

evident as a result of being in the state of Texas. And in a state where conservatives deride the

notion of compromise in the face of core conservative principles and tenets, Texas has in its

governorship a more rigidly partisan Republican tenure in Rick Perry. In Governance In

Houston: Growth Theories and Urban Pressures by Igor Vojnovic, the fervor with which the

Republican party had stipulated its principles had been delivered at the 2000 state convention. In

it, “the five principles outlined were”:

1. “The least government is the best government”.

2. “The environment is best served by individuals working in their own best

interest”.

3. “Abolish the income tax and the IRS”.

4. “Repeal minimum wage laws”.

5. “Phase out the Social Security system in favor of private retirement” (Vojnovic,

2003, 590).

With a conservative electorate that’s bent upon the implementation of these values at a

national level and the Republican supermajority in the state legislature in Texas, by no means is

the City of Houston impervious to these precepts. And with a “business climate” that’s

conducive to pro-growth and the hosting of corporations here, Vojnovic who was previously

cited by me in regards to Houston having a laissez-faire disposition when it comes to business, is

further vindicated here upon more acute inspection of the case study. As a result of this

nepotism, “In 1999 Houston was ranked fourth by Site Selection in its survey of US cities

attracting most foreign investment during the 1990s…In the same year Houston was ranked

second (behind Chicago) in industrial importance by Industry Week…Other recognitions in 1999

included Newsweek’s second ranking in its survey of fastest growing job centers in the US…and

a number one ranking by CorpTech for jobs in bio-tech and advanced materials” (Vojnovic,

2003, 590).

According to Vojnovic, the landed moneyed interests that have set up shop in Houston

have been here for a considerable period of time and these elites are tied into local economy to

the degree of maintaining a monopoly in which they’re able to exert quite a bit of influence and

authority. Since corporations are also part of the historical landscape of Houston, the prospect of

being subjugated by an ideology that runs counter to that of the business interest in which they

haven’t got the same ability to run their affairs in the same way is exceptionally blasphemous.

“Free enterprise is still the gospel” (Vojnovic, 2003, 519) and the political climate in Houston

specifically owes its lucrative potential to industry.

With Houston as a cosmopolitan and metropolitan locale, the influx of immigrants who

contribute a lion’s share to the economy is conveyed in Ethnic Places, Postmodernism, and

Urban Change In Houston by Jan Lin of Amherst College. Written from the viewpoint of an

urban sociologist, Lin dispels the stigma many would associate traditionally ethnically distinct

areas of Houston with social pathology. With Houston ambitious for distinction among US

cities, the fact that this city has surpassed Los Angeles in terms of the heterogeneous mix of

diversity is a strong factor of desirability in a city rather than a deal-breaker. With its capacity to

embrace the outside masses who at one point came to Houston in a mood to make a transition

elsewhere, the issue of “group identity” (Lin, 1995, 633) was something of an anomaly in

Houston due to the vast income disparities and employment potentiality that many minorities

lacked. But nestled in a part of the country that has a border with Mexico and the “Freedmen’s

Town” given to liberated African-Americans, the proclivity to be racist and always insist upon

Anglo nostalgia was something that had been satisfactorily dissuaded in this city. And with the

US quotas on immigration no longer being distinguished by race after 1965, the ability to thrive

went against the usually more stick-to-itiveness of the much more segregationist South at large.

With the Voting Rights Act full in force, insisting upon the usual politics of exclusion no longer

seemed necessary and was seen as a detriment. It is our distinction in Texas to be more inviting

despite the hackneyed attitudes that many people have about the American South. Once ossified,

retraction of the emancipation of minorities can no longer be tenable nor is it any longer

desirable. And that is emblematic of Houston, Texas. As it relates to the issue of economics in

the city, with the diversity of tastes and perspectives, the economy of Houston has its niches of

catering specifically to an audience who clamor for authenticity and who’ve got an affinity for

their land of origin all the while being in the confines of a thriving metropolitan city such as

Houston.

At a time of partisanship and the year 2012 being an election year, the citizenry of US

cities have a bit of mulling to do and consider their options. This onset of partisanship can be

attributed to the economy and what party will be the decider when it comes to possibly

ameliorating the US economy and making it optimum again. Since Houston is the city that has

been deemed the “oil capital of the US” and carries quite a bit of traction globally, Richard C.

Longworth of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs writes in Urban America: U.S Cities In The

Global Era some of the maladies that might be intercepted in US cities due to the globalization of

the economy and cites Houston as having a formative part in the interdependent economy. Since

globalization entails a steady movement of people as well as having business and financial

overtones to it to keep it fresh, Longworth chides other cities in the US for not acclaiming their

piece of the globalized economy and says that they stand a good chance in being outside of the

periphery of this new era. Since all cities look for a general degree of relevancy, clout and

recognition from their peers, Longworth sees past the fashionable sentiment of globalization and

deems it wholly necessary to be a viable economy at all in the first place. Instinctively, he likens

survival of cities in the US to be accomplished by globalization. Houston, which is one of the

chief proponents of free-market capitalism, is privy to the globalization phenomenon and is

playing an active role in nurturing it outside of its own peripheries to oil production throughout

the world, and further playing host to it as a center of commerce and business that is engendered

by the prospect of accruing business. The attraction of Houston, with its high standard of living

without raising the cost of these services, is bound to attract not only investors but also people

who are looking for a respite in terms of enjoying the amenities of a better life without

incrementally raising the cost.

In The World City Hypothesis by John Friedmann, a city’s affinity to be characterized by

the perception that people elsewhere in the world may have about it is a point of distinction when

it comes to the issue of global cities. In the spirit of free inquiry, Friedmann links urbanization

processes which have set the standard in cities as playing a pivotal role in ascendency to

becoming global powerhouses. In the developed first world, Houston is deemed as a

“secondary” global city that is in the chief core country of the US. Only three other cities in the

US are deemed “primary” which include New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. It worth

noting that a distinctive quality of these aforementioned cities are not only their histories but

their relative size and cumulative populations. In a succinct statement by Friedmann, that being

“[w]orld cities are major sites for the concentration and accumulation of international capital”

(Friedmann, 1986, 73), sets the tone for the City of Houston as being home to a generous number

of multinational companies who specifically come here for the energy sector. In these US cities,

enough space, industry, and capital (human and financial) has been amply given to them and

these cities are ahead of their competitors in the rest of the world due to the fact that acceptable

modes of production happen in these cities, the yield of the products are commendable and there

are enough established business elites to generate money which will in turn yield profits.

Houston doesn’t need a reminder to tell it that anticipating the next fuel of the 21st century will

be incredibly lucrative; it knows that. The fact that it will have a say in the energies

commodities market is something that we should always come to expect from it. So, as the

world gains consciousness about global warming and inclement weather, for anyone to

dismissively say that fossil fuels are going away soon have Houston to deal with.

In summation, Houston as a center which will have clout for the foreseeable future is a

given. This city in which four million residents call home has the distinction of livability,

comfort, thrift and amenities that establish it as relevant whenever people decide to sprawl

outside of their confines and seek to live elsewhere. In the lauding of Houston, much of it is due

to the economical cunning and guile it has managed to generate much to its benefit. With

corporations and multinationals from outside of the US look to conduct business in the US, the

choices are made to relocate to a locale which will have a well enough business climate to let

them conduct their affairs in a sovereign fashion, the costs and benefits of doing business will be

weighed in comparison with other cities, and as many corporations, multinationals and the

countries that represent them have consulates in Houston, the degree of reciprocity with which

these entities have given back to the Houston community is taken into account. There’s

conspicuous language in the charters, decorum and mission statements of companies in Houston

that imply that corporate citizenship necessitates a giving back to the community and fostering

relationships that go beyond mere employment. One can only hope that there’s a hearkening to

the maladies of the city can be addressed jointly with corporations playing an active role. The

philanthropic vein of Houston is accentuated by the spirit of initiative and taking the onus upon

oneself to establish venture and make a name for oneself.

In the pursuit of making and delivering quotas in terms of the economy, Houston is by no

means a sidelined actor but often many policymakers throughout the US have considered the

economical entailments of Houston into perspective before making a decision. At a time when

the US is making the decision to subsidize renewable fuels, a Houstonian’s hope is that in the

spirit of commerce that established markets won’t be the only factor coming into play but also

the factor of environmental stewardship should be considered in the back of one’s mind. With

the possible degradation of the environment, eyes are on Houston to make a decisive decision

regarding investing in future renewable energies. As it is advantageous to be an influence in this

certain market, one can hope that this prospect is lucrative enough to be a new standard.

Aside from industry, Houston has many qualities about it that are sweetened by the

economic incentives of living here. Whether it should be the cultural significance of the arts,

humanities, music, aeronautical and space program (NASA), or the Medical Center, the

likelihood of Houston being privileged to have distinction exclusive to that of the oil and energy

industry is established among Houstonians.

But it definitely has its shortcomings as well. With rampant crime being on the incline,

developmental programs much to be desired in various parts of the city, inclining poverty rates,

high school dropout rates and substandard testing among schoolchildren, the hope is that there

are enough Houstonians who have a generous degree of affability, education and altruism to pick

up the slack. With nonprofits and volunteerism on the rise, the sense of community and helping

the disenfranchised is in the spirit of Houston and one can sense that these attributes often come

into focus whenever it comes to the civic culture of the city.

But gauging the problems involves the knowledge that these aren’t at all spontaneous

occurrences that have happened overnight, but in terms of addressing the societal impact of what

these issues, if left to go on unabated, will have in store for Houston is still yet to be determined.

Houston is emblematic of America, specifically despite its proximity to the South and its

attached ruralism, is a test case for other US cities in terms of what luck, perchance and will can

do. In its designation as a global center of commerce, one can expect that it should exceed

expectations and that the soft bigotry of low expectations is not at all applicable to the City of

Houston. American in its character, it offers promise in the future and viability to go one further

and set the standard for what’s to come in the future.

Works Cited (APSA Format)

Feagin, Joe R. 1985. “The Global Context of Metropolitan Growth: Houston and the Oil

Industry”. American Journal of Sociology. 90: 1204-27.

Vojnovic, Igor. 2003. “Laissez-Faire Governance And The Archetype Laissez-Faire

City In The USA: Exploring Houston”. Geografiska Annaler. 85: 19-37

Platt, Harold L. 1987. “Energy and Urban Growth: A Comparison of Houston and

Chicago”. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 91: 1-18

Sassen, Saskia. 1990. “Economic Restructuring And The American City”. Annual

Review of Sociology. 16: 465-90.

Vojnovic, Igor. 2003. “Governance In Houston: Growth Theories and Urban Pressures”.

Journal of Urban Affairs. 25: 589-624.

Lin, Jan. 1995. “Ethnic Places, Postmodernism, and Urban Change In Houston”. The

Sociological Quarterly. 36: 629-647.

Longworth, Richard C. 2012. “Urban America: U.S Cities In The Global Era”. Journal

of International Affairs. 65: 97-108.

Friedmann, John. 1986. “The World City Hypothesis”. Development and Change. 17:

69-83.