Explicating Divided Approaches to Gentrification and Growing Income Inequality

Contemporary sociology offers competing images of the breadth and consequences of gentrification. One subset presents gentrification as a nearly unstoppable force that plays a prominent role in the spatial reorganization of urban life; another presents it as less monolithic and less momentous for ma...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of sociology 2017-07, Vol.43 (1), p.515-539
Main Author: Brown-Saracino, Japonica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
affluence
Gentrification
Income inequality
inequality
Marginality
methods
Minority groups
Neighborhoods
poverty
qualitative
quantitative
Reorganization
Social exclusion
Sociology
Urban and Rural Community Sociology
Urban renewal
Urbanism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Contemporary sociology offers competing images of the breadth and consequences of gentrification. One subset presents gentrification as a nearly unstoppable force that plays a prominent role in the spatial reorganization of urban life; another presents it as less monolithic and less momentous for marginalized residents, particularly racial minorities. Although neither camp is methodologically homogenous, more qualitative scholars, typically relying on micro-level analyses of individual neighborhoods, tend to present gentrification as increasingly endemic, advanced, and consequential, whereas more quantitative scholars, typically relying on macro analyses, tend to present it in less dire terms. These competing images of gentrification originate in the fact that each subset of research asks different questions, employs distinct methods, and produces particular answers. Exacerbating and partially driving these divergences are different responses to an anxiety within and beyond the academy about broader spatial and economic shifts, such as growing income inequality.
ISSN:0360-0572
1545-2115
DOI:10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053427