Programme full

Thursday 16 April 2015 at 15:30 - 17:00
PAPER SESSION 6 / PECHA KUCHA SESSIONS
Cities, Mobilities, Place and Space 1 – Pecha Kucha
M532, GEORGE MOORE BUILDING
The Relationship between Housing and Social Status from the Perspective of Media Images
Zhou, A.Q.
(Waseda University)
Since the late 1990s, social stratification in China has rapidly spread. Meanwhile, the 1998 housing system reform led
to the housing boom. Experts propose that the excessive housing boom has caused the stratification of Chinese
society. The relevant research is limited and mostly tends to consider housing as an objective indicator of a particular
social status. However, previous research also suggests that the media construct social status imagery that influences
individuals' class consciousness. Therefore, this study considers the relationship between housing and social status
from the perspective of media images. The data used in the analysis consisted of all of the real estate advertisements
in the 'Beijing Evening News' between April
1 and May 9 2014. The results found that Chinese real estate ads described residents' status by using the words: 'the
higher levels of society,' 'the elite,' 'leaders,' and 'the nobility.' The results further found that five aspects of housing
were used in the ads to depict residents' social status images: 1)exclusive use of a house larger than 80 square
meters; 2) building images that blended Chinese and Western styles or that blended traditional and modern styles; 3)
locations near transportation corridors, safe management services, institutions of higher education, and medical
treatment facilities; 4) natural environments that offered high quality air, light, water, forests, and green space; and 5)
area residents' lifestyles that included efficiency, quality, and luxury consumption. These images would generate
increased awareness of existing class differences and create new perceptions of the boundaries that separate
classes.
Enlightenments on (Other) Motives that Command Social (In)visibilities (than Urban Space (In)equalities)
Ramos, C.
(University Institute of Lisbon)
In the context of a Ph.D. thesis, the communication I propose discusses the causality of social invisibilities, as almost
unknown groups of individuals (and their contours) who are dissociated from the public domains, and social visibilities
of Lisbon's old. Methodological substantiations are intensive research (fieldworks, 25 life stories, 25 semi-structured
interviews) and statistical exploration of Censos 2011.
The luxuriousness of Avenida da Liberdade, contrasting with some poverty of its environs (São José), occult social
networks components of São José old population – like important traces of community (Tönnies, 1957) and
countryside (Simmel, 1971); many strength of strong ties (Granovetter, 1973) – in conjunction with social
vulnerabilities of this population – as lack of economic, cultural and social capitals (Bourdieu, 1994), the latter being
very important do not accomplish all this old population needs, consequent lack of agential actions (with the exception
of professional work made in the past); some or notorious circumscription to the space of the house.
A democratic and egalitarian disposition of Benfica's urban space (Lisbon periphery) and way old individuals people it,
despite buildings and old inhabitants heterogeneity, bring to light heterogeneous social networks components,
together with social vulnerabilities and advantages.
Nevertheless, there are other causes to these (in)visibilities, like history (Mouzelis, 1991) of Portugal, namely
concerning the dictatorship, phases (Archer, 1995) of family (from their lives with the ancestors to their independent
lives) or, in other words, changes on the life course (Elder & Hitlin, 2007), elderly ages and capitals.
Experiencing Class Stigma in Gentrified Urban Spaces
Erdemli, O.
(Lancaster University)
197 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University