Response to Phillips and Smith

Abstract

My response to Phillips and Smith’s, ‘Comparative approaches to gentrification’ begins by acknowledging that the piece represents an important step toward greater clarity within the discussion of gentrification. From there, I lobby for the expansion of the means of comparison beyond those focused on in the piece. The alternate means of comparison that I propose are what are commonly referred to as cultural narratives and my contention is that by comparing and contrasting the stories that people rely upon to represent, explain, justify, and recount their behavior, either as creators or consumers of gentrifiable space offer another significant means by which to understand the relationship(s) between differing gentrification events. Drawing on preexisting research in the rural American West, I offer brief examples of how this method can be applied to explain and describe and thereby compare the actions and motives of gentrifiers.