Studies of political power and governance in U.S. cities have long been dominated by political economy approaches in which the material interests of political actors are seen as the principal drivers of preferences and behavior. More recently, scholars from the emerging field of urban political development have questioned this view, arguing that ideas may play an important role—along with material factors—in determining what actors desire. Less understood, however, is where ideas of this nature come from. This article identifies social learning as one possible source. Social learning can be understood as a change in perceptions and behavior that results from experiences of some kind that provide important policy lessons. Through a case study of a near-downtown housing development in Chicago, I show how social learning caused actors to reinterpret their interests and behave in ways contrary to what materialist arguments would predict.

美国城市的政治权力和治理研究长期以来一直受到政治经济学方法的支配，在这种方法中，政治行为者的物质利益被视为偏好和行为的主要驱动因素。最近，来自城市政治发展新兴领域的学者质疑这种观点，认为思想可能与物质因素一起在决定行动者的愿望方面发挥重要作用。然而，人们对这种性质的想法的来源知之甚少。本文将社会学习确定为一种可能的来源。社会学习可以被理解为一种观念和行为的改变，这种改变源于某种提供重要政策教训的经验。通过对芝加哥近市中心住宅开发的案例研究，