Whiteness, contact, gentrification, and critical diversity: A new racial ideology of gentrifying whites?

Abstract

AbstractResearch shows that increased contact between different races under the right conditions can increase interracial tolerance. Research also shows that more white individuals are moving back to city centers through the process of gentrification. This research shows that gentrification is a process ripe with conflict which has implications on interracial contact. New development in neighborhoods not only prices out longtime residents who are often of color but is also geared toward newer middle‐class patrons who are often white. Literature on whites living in diverse or gentrifying neighborhoods illustrates habits and behaviors that result in the avoidance of people of color. Literature also illustrates that's these whites are likely to be more politically progressive and claim to value the racially diverse nature of their neighborhoods. Critical diversity research sheds some light on this paradox, but this is a small but growing field. More research needs to be done to better understand the habitus, the racial ideologies, and the relationships white individuals who live in diverse or gentrifying neighborhoods, have with people of color. Doing so would not only examine how gentrification is structuring interracial contact, but also provide a closer look at a new dominant racial ideology for whites in this context. Critical diversity ideology, while similar to color blind racism, in that it still reproduces racial inequality, is a distinct racial ideology that is potentially paramount in the contexts of racially diverse neighborhoods. Detroit makes an ideal location for this research due to its history of racial segregation and current influx of white individuals living in close proximity to their Black counterparts.