"This sociological study challenges much of the traditional wisdom about the dynamics of ghetto life. . . . Small's lucid explanations for the apparent discrepancies between theory and reality that occurred in this study justify his subsequent call for a rethinking of the variables associated with poverty and how they interact, and the importance of examining neighborhoods of concentrated poverty individually."
— Library Journal
Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2004 C. Wright Mills Award
— Society of the Study of Social Problems
“Villa Victoria is the finest example of how ethnographic material can be mobilized to correct, refine, and reframe top-down, policy-driven research. . . . If the current fashion continues, more ethnographers will drop conventional longitudinal research designs for interview studies and snapshot portraits of individuals and families, all in the service of policy formulation. In their noble pursuit, they will certainly benefit from reading Villa Victoria.”
— Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, American Journal of Sociology
"This study is strong both in its characterisation of the local residents . . . and its rigorous analysis of theory (and weaving the two together)."
— John Crotty, Urban Studies Journal