Housing and Racial Capitalism

1-0-5 units · Graduate

Examines critical issues in US housing (most notably, gentrification) through the lens of Black Marxist thought. Introduces core writings on racial capitalism. Explores the material and ideological bases of class relations as enacted through housing. Contrasts these class relations with those of production by highlighting class struggle between groups of residents. Relates these ideas to alternative theories of development and the urban process. Discusses these issues in the context of gentrification and other topics, including suburbanization, infrastructure investment, public and private disinvestment, and predatory inclusion. Offers grounding in classic theoretical accounts of racial capitalism and of the urban process, a framework for bringing to bear the former upon the latter, and insight into the unique role of housing in the social reproduction of a White Middle Class.