| dc.description.abstract | Gentrification, the dramatic demographic shift in a community to a younger, more affluent population, has become a topic of debate in policy, academic and community circles. Using Shaw and McKay�s social disorganization as the theoretical framework, this study proposes that gentrification � in the short run � mirrors that of a disorganized community. Additionally, this study discusses gentrification in the context of disadvantageous, and racist, housing policies that have taken place over the course of the 20th century in helping form many of the low-income, high crime neighborhoods that exist today. Moreover, the first goal of this study was to test the relationship between gentrification and disorganization. Comparing black youth to white youth, this study also sought to understand the ways in which neighborhoods that are characterized as being in a gentrifying stage impact delinquency. Findings show that neighborhoods characterized as disorganized and organized, impact black and white youth similarly. Conversely, neighborhoods that were characterized as gentrifying saw stark differences between the rate at which black youth and white youth commit acts of delinquency, with black youth being more likely to commit acts of delinquency. Data for this study was taken from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a multilevel dataset. This study employed t-tests and negative binomial regression. | |
