COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

collar” occupations, such as professional and managerial jobs, and have the same taste
and class interests. They are entrepreneurs and have the capability of being creative in
their jobs. But social classes cannot just be specifically defined solely on one’s life
chances and a technical division of labor; they are based directly on a system of relations
of domination and subordination. The working-class and the poor are subordinate to the
authority and decision making ability of the upper and middle classes. The middle-class
has the authority, privilege, prestige, and power to make decisions that affect other
people’s lives and lifestyles, but in this social class position, they struggle over how to
use their power (Wright 1979:14).
Gentrification and the City
Gentrification does not have one meaning. “The phenomenon of gentrification
has been variously labeled as the ‘back-to-the-city’ movement, urban renaissance, and
neighborhood revitalization” (Galster and Peacock 1986:321). And gentrification has
generally been defined as “primarily structured around class oppositions” (Bridge
1995:237), and focused on class and ethnic/racial relations. Although social scientists
define gentrification differently and focus on property or on people, they seem to agree
that when neighborhoods become gentrified many social and physical changes take place.
They explain the process of gentrification as having economic and social impacts.
Phillips (2002:282) claims that “the study of gentrification has, since the 1970s, been a
subject of considerable interest and debate among geographers and has been described as
a major ‘research frontier.”
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