White Middle-Class Precarity Erases “Others”: Narratives of Race and the Case of Super-Gentrification in the News

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Gentrification Today

Abstract

The study of racialization, defined as the process by which a process, phenomenon, or social space becomes associated with a racial or ethnic group, has primarily focused on national narratives around national level issues. Yet we know less about how local context might affect the process of racialization. In this paper, I look at the local process of gentrification and analyze how (1) local racial demographics, (2) local racial change, and (3) local dynamics of how gentrification occurs influences how the process is racialized in media narratives about two San Francisco neighborhoods. I find that the context and presence of "white middle-class precarity" or the instability of the white middle-class position particularly in the housing market, leads to the omission of the Latino history in narratives about the Mission, while narratives about Bayview-Hunters Point, a multi-racial but previously black neighborhood, reinforce the black history of the neighborhood. The findings demonstrate the role of local context in the racialization process and suggest implications for how narratives inform policy.

Author

• Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana, SUNY Albany