Examining Race and Ownership Status in Long-term Businesses and Organization’s Reactions to Gentrification

Daniel Sullivan Principal Investigator

Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Sociology

Gentrification, the process of wealthier residents moving into a poorer neighborhood in sufficient numbers to transform its social identity, is occurring in parts of many U.S. cities. Often gentrification is characterized by whites moving into predominantly black neighborhoods, resulting—at least for a time—in racially diverse neighborhoods. The main goal of this project is to examine neighborhood racial integration by analyzing how long-time businesses and organizations react to gentrification in their neighborhood, in terms of whether they continue to operate in their neighborhood (thus facilitating stable racial integration) and whether newcomers become involved in their business/ organization, as workers or customers (thus facilitating genuine social integration). The central hypothesis is that, among long-time predominantly black businesses/ organizations, those that own their own building are more likely to stay in the neighborhood and socially integrate with newcomers.

The investigator will conduct 80 interviews in two racially diverse, gentrifying neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon. These interviews complement a recent survey of 164 businesses/organizations. Businesses/organizations will be selected from a list of survey respondents. All will have operated in their neighborhood since before gentrification began and they will correspond to one of four categories: black-owned, white-owned, black renters, and white renters. Interviewer and interviewee will be matched based on race. This research will make both scholarly and policy contributions. In terms of scholarly contribution, it will examine whether long-time businesses/organizations’ reactions to newcomers are based more on cultural characteristics or on economic interests. Researchers who emphasize the importance of culture argue that differences in racial identity and socioeconomic status create divisions between newcomers and long-time businesses/organizations, making it difficult to achieve racial stability and social integration. However, researchers who emphasize the importance of economics argue that businesses/organizations benefit financially from gentrification and therefore, regardless of cultural differences, those that own their building are more likely to stay in the neighborhood and be more open to newcomers than those that rent. This study also has important policy implications for it may be that ownership serves three important functions in racially integrated, gentrifying neighborhoods: (1) securing affordable space for long-time businesses/organizations, including predominantly black ones, (2) maintaining stable neighborhood integration, and (2) increasing social integration. Many Americans are pessimistic about the coexistence of whites and blacks. This pessimism is in part the result of a lack of knowledge regarding inter-racial contact situations that, on a daily basis, offer a fertile ground for the emergence of a new, non-racial, U.S. culture.