Revisiting the established-outsider constellation in a gentrifying majority-minority neighbourhood

Abstract

ABSTRACT The phenomenon of majority-minority cities refers to increasingly ethnically diverse neighbourhoods where everybody belongs to a minority group.Simultaneously, another phenomenon parallels this majority-minority formation and that is gentrification, leading to an inflow of white middle-class residents into neighbourhoods which were previously predominantly occupied by residents with a migration background. Neighbourhoods that 30 years ago experienced a ‘white-flight’ and were subsequently almost exclusively inhabited by migrants and their descendants are now experiencing a ‘comeback’ of young urban professionals and middle-class young families who purchase (un)affordable housing in these gentrifying neighbourhoods. This creates an interesting condition for not only the migrants, but also their descendants who were often born and raised in these neighbourhoods and have lived there for over 30 years. Using Elias and Scotson’s established–outsiders model, this article shows that, while claiming the neighbourhood as their own, descendants of migrants are experiencing a loss of their established status and feeling like an outsider in the face of the changes brought about by gentrification. Using semi-structured interviews with residents with and without a migration background, this article shows how gentrification has different implications for people living in majority-minority settings at the intersections of social class and ethnicity.