Gentrification and Inequality in Brooklyn - by Judith DeSena (Hardcover)

About the Book

In this book, Desena examines the ways that working class residents and incoming gentrifiers form parallel cultures within the shared physical spaces of their community. Gentrification and Inequality in Brooklyn touches on issues familiar to anyone who has lived in a multi-cla...

Book Synopsis

In this book, Desena examines the ways that working class residents and incoming gentrifiers form parallel cultures within the shared physical spaces of their community. Gentrification and Inequality in Brooklyn touches on issues familiar to anyone who has lived in a multi-class or multi-ethnic community, while offering new perspectives on the ways that such communities develop and maintain the boundaries of social segregation.

Review Quotes

As an urban sociologist with young children, DeSena brings a fresh perspective to gentrification research. She identifies how schools and playgrounds - places at the heart of every neighborhood - become significant, on a daily basis, in reinforcing class inequalities. DeSena has brought families back into the study of the city, and we should thank her for doing so.

By shining a brilliant light on the mundane struggles between gentry and working class residents locally in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, DeSena reveals the class conflicts produced by capitalism globally. As in her previous works, she again demonstrates the value of theoretically informed urban ethnography in bringing to the foreground important, but often overlooked, aspects of urban social life.

About the Author

Judith N. DeSena is professor of sociology at St. John's University.