"Center of power" = "opportunity". If I'm poor, and there's no hope in, say, rural Appalachia, and I want some kind of a decent life, I'm going to go to some m

"Center of power" = "opportunity". If I'm poor, and there's no hope in, say, rural Appalachia, and I want some kind of a decent life, I'm going to go to some more urban place. There may not be much chance there - I may not be qualified for the good jobs - but there's no chance at all at home. So centers of power attract those with nothing who want to stop being those with nothing. And where they wind up... say they're living in the Bronx, in poverty, crime, and deteriorating infrastructure. They still may judge themselves to be better off than they were in rural Appalachia, where there was poverty, crime, deteriorating (or no) infrastructure, and no opportunity. Note well: I have lived neither in rural Appalachia nor in the Bronx. This is speculation not based on first-hand knowledge.