Gentrification, Class, and Residence: A Reappraisal

This paper is an attempt to expose the inadequacies of current arguments on the influence of residence on class relations in a gentrifying neighbourhood. In the gentrification literature it is assumed that the influx of the middle class into working-class neighbourhoods disrupts the association between social relations and residential spaces and that this influences class relations. The results of research in a gentrifying London neighbourhood do not support such spatial formalism and, on the basis of social network analysis, suggest an array of sociospatial relations which are not tied to neighbourhood, It is suggested that the involvement in neighbourhood varies temporally (according to stage in the life cycle) and by gender, rather than spatially or by class location. The discussion is concluded with an assessment of the implications of this argument for the gentrification literature in particular and for social geography in general.