Tag Archives: Philadelphia

City Spotlight: Landlord Strategies for Avoiding Evictions in Philadelphia

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By Melody L. Boyd (SUNY Brockport) and John Balzarini (Delaware State University)

If it’s been a while since you’ve been to Philadelphia, you’ll notice some shimmering additions to the skyline when you arrive for ASA 2023. You’ll likely need to reroute a block or two to navigate around scaffolding and closed streets as you head to dinner after a day of conferencing. You may want to bring a pair of ear plugs to minimize the construction noise as you move around the city. While Gritty was unveiled in 2018 as the Flyers mascot, the city has gotten quite a bit shinier and new in recent years. Of course, as sociologists we know that shiny and new—which on the surface may seem attractive—actually corresponds with increased inequality as competition for housing intensifies. In the context of these changes throughout the city we conducted research looking at the attitudes, perspectives, and experiences of one of Philadelphia’s most important housing providers—landlords. In this article, we highlight some of our findings from this research, focusing on how landlords navigate evictions amidst an increasingly hot Philly housing market.

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Seeking Philly Newsletter Pieces

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Source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philadelphia_cityscape_BW_20150328.jpg

Does your scholarship or activism take place in Philadelphia? If so, the CUSS Newsletter Committee wants to feature your work in our next newsletter! Anyone interested in submitting a feature-length article (approximately 1,000-2,000 words) should contact Co-Editors Lora Phillips (lora.phillips@asu.edu) and Steven Schmidt (seschmid@uci.edu) by May 15 with a short (1-5 sentence) description of your proposed article. Final submissions will be due by July 1 in order to ensure inclusion in the summer newsletter.

ASA Conference Feature: Sweet Home

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Source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philadelphia_cityscape_BW_20150328.jpg

Prentiss A. Dantzler
Colorado College
CUSS Newsletter, Summer 2018, Vol 30, No 3

Last time ASA was held in Philadelphia was 2005, the same year I graduated high school. A staple in urban sociology, Philly has undergone many significant changes since then. Being raised in West Philly, my younger years were quite different than that of the Fresh Prince. My childhood functioned somewhat between W.E.B. DuBois’ (1899) Philadelphia Negro and William Julius Wilson’s (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged. In a state of double consciousness, I constantly wondered (at least on a surface) why my neighborhood was the way it was. Countless other works within our field have helped me make sense of different aspects of my childhood. Why was my family adamant about sending me to Catholic school (even though they were not at all Catholic)? Why did I have to take 3 forms of transportation to get to high school while my peers drove in new cars and trucks? What happen to all of the public housing that stood tall in many of the Black neighborhoods? How did I make it out and why are others still in the same place? And better yet, why does “making it out” mean living in white spaces? As a late comer to sociology, the joys and perils of understanding these dynamics within community and urban sociology have largely shaped my reflection on the city of Brotherly Love – a place I still call home.

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Exploring Spatial Equity in Philadelphia through Public Transit and School Choice

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Michael R. Scott
University of Texas, Austin

David T. Marshall
Auburn University

CUSS Newsletter, Summer 2018, Vol 30, No 3

As we prepare for spending a few days in Philadelphia at ASA this year, we wanted to share a bit of our research. David has lived and worked in Philadelphia for a few years, and Mike is from not far away and visits often. That said, it’s made for personally compelling research. Given that we are education researchers, our research specifically is on schools. Therefore, we hope this article gives a preview of Philadelphia through our research on the public schools and the public transportation system.

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2018 Annual Meeting

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ASA 2018 Logo v4b

The 113th ASA Annual Meeting will take place August 11-14, 2018 in Philadelphia. Sessions will be held at both the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association draws over 5,000 attendees and provides the opportunity for professionals involved in the scientific study of society to share knowledge and new directions in research and practice. Approximately 600 program sessions are convened during the four-day meeting, featuring over 3,000 research papers and invited sessions.

You can view and search the 2018 ASA Annual Meeting Program here.