Gentrification in the Context of ‘Risk Society’

Abstract

This paper looks at factors explaining gentrification using the neoclassical economic framework. The risk inherent in a move to a lower class neighbourhood is seen as a component of the rent gap that helps preserve working-class neighbourhoods until a tipping point is reached. The factors that affect risk perception and encourage gentrification are placed the context of Ulrich Beck's risk society. The ‘reflexivity’ attribute, the ‘end of fate’—the ‘writing of one's own biography’—bridges the changes in preferences, life style, family formation, and work that contribute to the rise of gentrification.