Abstract:
This paper, presented at the Massachusetts Historical Society in 2003, traces the language used to describe urban political organizations. It considers two key metaphors--ring and machine--and the assumptions abour city politics they conveyed. Ring represented a republican-inspired concept which imagined small band of greedy and manipulative men working against the interest of a united community. Machine brought class into the mix, depicting corrupt politicians as part of a racialized working class incapable of participating in a democracy.
