BY FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR.

What’s in a name? The Los Angeles Times recently ran a front-page story about the introduction of a measure to rename South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles. But does a name really matter? Will it reduce crime, improve health care or fix transportation problems? You might be surprised at the answer.

At the very least, names matter because they help define who we are, where we live and what we do. In other words, names convey information about our various identities. The L.A. Times story calls attention to what we would call place-based or community identity. This refers to the set of characteristics that come to define a particular geographic area — more formally thought of as elements of a frame. Frames are common tools of human understanding that allow us to make sense out of our world. They can be conveyed by visuals, stories, metaphors, messengers and numbers.

With reinforcement (at the least) by the media, these frames are consistently and readily available to the mass public.

Beverly Hills, 90210. Quick, what comes to mind? Rich people, mansions, good schools and clean streets? Why? Because this is the dominant frame or narrative that organizes our thinking about this specific community, and it is the most accessible way for us to understand what Beverly Hills is about. After all, we are all cognitive misers. In the high-tech world we must consume information, interpret it and discard it in order to move on to the next task.

Let me add one more layer: race. Indeed, when place and race get connected, they form an extraordinarily powerful story line. So what is missing from the Beverly Hills narrative, of course, is the mention that mostly white people live there. It is not a stretch to make the connection between good neighborhood, good people.

On the other hand, race and place can also get conflated in ways that are quite corrosive. We have discovered that the “hood” frame is the most accessible narrative for many African-American and Latino communities. According to this story line, the “hood” is a place of high crime, unemployment, gang activity and poverty. Bad place, bad people.

What is most potent about frames is that they influence decision outcomes by defining issues, explaining who is responsible and the possible range of solutions.

Quick! Compton, East L.A., Watts, Pacoima. Who is responsible for the problems in these communities? (Hint: “those people.”) Who is responsible for solving the problems? Thus, public investment in Beverly Hills? No-brainer. Public investment in Watts? Pricey.

This brings us back to South Los Angeles. While the name in and of itself may not reduce crime, fix the schools and generally improve the quality of life for residents, it may very well lead to a different public understanding of the communities that stretch south from downtown. Communities that have many strong qualities, communities where the residents care and communities where change is possible.

As Walter Lippmann said more than 75 years ago, “the way in which the world is imagined determines at any particular moment what men will do.”

Gilliam is associate vice chancellor of community partnerships and professor of political science.