Periodic Reporting for period 4 - PaDC (Property and Democratic Citizenship: The Impact of Moral Assumptions, Policy Regulations, and Market Mechanisms on Experiences of Eviction)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-02-01 do 2023-08-31
This research explores the impact of property regimes on experiences of citizenship across five democratic countries: Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Property rights are a foundational element of democracy, but the right to private property exists in tension with values of equality and a right to shelter. An investigation of property is urgent given the recent normalisation of economic models that have resulted in millions of evictions every year. Through an ethnographic study of conflicts over property this research provides a comparative analysis of the benefits and limitations of contemporary property regimes for democratic citizenship. A property regime is defined as the combination of moral discourses about real landed property with the regulatory policies and market mechanisms that shape the use, sale and purchase of property. The selected countries represent a diverse set of property regimes, but all five are experiencing a housing and eviction crisis that has created new forms of disadvantage, exacerbated inequalities of race, gender, age and income, and led to social unrest. This research critically examines the concept of property through a qualitative approach centred on moments of conflict resulting from the use, sale or purchase of specific properties to answer: how do property regimes shape people's experience of citizenship and what can this tell us about the role of property in contemporary models of democratic governance?
This research provides the opportunity to rethink the role of property within democracy based on extensive empirical data about how moral assumptions combine with particular ways of regulating and marketing property to exacerbate, alleviate or create inequalities within contemporary experiences of democratic citizenship.
This research provides the opportunity to rethink the role of property within democracy based on extensive empirical data about how moral assumptions combine with particular ways of regulating and marketing property to exacerbate, alleviate or create inequalities within contemporary experiences of democratic citizenship.
The Property and Democratic Citizenship project has completed phase 1 and phase 2 of the research design. Phase 1 included the hiring of the full research team, the creation of an extensive literature study and case specific research proposals per PhD field site, data-analysis of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the American Housing Survey (AHS) datasets, and research design training for the PhDs in preparation for fieldwork. Phase 2 included a phase of fieldwork and data collection for the PhDs, Postdoc 2 and the PI (planned for 9 months, but cut short to 4 months or transformed to online fieldwork due to COVID-19) plus preliminary data analysis. In phase 2, postdoc 1 continued data analysis of the EU-SILC, PSID and AHS datasets along side part-time fieldwork (halted early due to COVID-19).
The main results achieved so far include: extensive data collection in all five case studies plus harmonization of the datasets used for the quantitative analyses (EU-SILC, PSID and AHS), the design of a mixed methods research approach to integrate PaDC’s quantitative and qualitative findings, development of a conceptual model through which to interpret these findings, a literature review of housing outcomes in Europe and the United States, and a literature review of key policy milestones shaping property markets in the countries studied.
The Results of the quantitative analyses performed thus far relate to three main areas: (1) the relationship between property relations and income inequality across selected countries in the aftermath of the global financial crisis; (2) the cross-country impact of technological changes on housing markets, local policies and citizenship experiences; and (3) the relationship between residential displacement, housing precariousness and citizenship status. So far we have found the following interesting trends for further analysis: 1. an examination of three categories of housing property relationship (landlords, tenants and homeowners) reveals that the share of homeowners has declined substantially across countries, with the sole exception of Greece, 2. several countries in our sample exhibit a substantial rise in the share of landlord households, and where this has occurred, the decompositions reveal a striking rise in both overall and between-group inequality, independently of country-level variation in terms of housing policy regimes. Initial analyses reveal that automation, digitalisation and platformisation are giving way to new housing practices, most notably in urban contexts.
The main results achieved so far include: extensive data collection in all five case studies plus harmonization of the datasets used for the quantitative analyses (EU-SILC, PSID and AHS), the design of a mixed methods research approach to integrate PaDC’s quantitative and qualitative findings, development of a conceptual model through which to interpret these findings, a literature review of housing outcomes in Europe and the United States, and a literature review of key policy milestones shaping property markets in the countries studied.
The Results of the quantitative analyses performed thus far relate to three main areas: (1) the relationship between property relations and income inequality across selected countries in the aftermath of the global financial crisis; (2) the cross-country impact of technological changes on housing markets, local policies and citizenship experiences; and (3) the relationship between residential displacement, housing precariousness and citizenship status. So far we have found the following interesting trends for further analysis: 1. an examination of three categories of housing property relationship (landlords, tenants and homeowners) reveals that the share of homeowners has declined substantially across countries, with the sole exception of Greece, 2. several countries in our sample exhibit a substantial rise in the share of landlord households, and where this has occurred, the decompositions reveal a striking rise in both overall and between-group inequality, independently of country-level variation in terms of housing policy regimes. Initial analyses reveal that automation, digitalisation and platformisation are giving way to new housing practices, most notably in urban contexts.
The PaDC project has reframed the issue of housing insecurity and eviction through the concept of “property” which has allowed us to make two shifts in the analysis: first, it expands the temporal frame to include an exploration of the entire history of property relations from colonial roots to contemporary inequalities; and second, it expands the spatial and analytical frame so that the analysis is no longer about trends in a specific sector (housing), or about urban transformation in terms of “gentrification” – but can be understood instead as a lens into the dynamics of democracy itself. In this way we explore the impact of housing insecurity not only on individual people, or a specific neighborhood, but on our very way of thinking about what constitutes the “good society”. This shift in focus creates new avenues of analysis by linking the concept and practice of housing with theories of value, rent, debt, colonialism, race, security, subjectivisation, and social reproduction among others. Each of these themes will be developed further in the remaining phases of the research project.
Our quantitative analyses have identified major shifts in the structure of housing property regimes in Europe and the United States, including the expansion of private landlording in specific country contexts and emerging inequalities between property classes. Moreover, our analyses of housing precariousness and residential displacement move beyond the largely descriptive findings of previous approaches to their study in Europe, refining existing indicators and identifying their determinants through multivariate analysis. By linking citizenship with housing precariousness and displacement, we also bridge housing research and social stratification with the emerging literature on internal bordering.
Going forward, our quantitative research seeks to identify policy approaches and contextual factors that have exacerbated or mitigated the aforementioned socioeconomic divergence, as well as whether this trend has been accompanied by divergence or polarization in sociopolitical and cultural attitudes and health inequalities (primarily through self-reported health and the presence of chronic illness). We will also further explore the relationship of citizenship status with monthly rental and mortgage payments. Finally, further qualitative research seeks to clarify mechanisms through which risk is allocated among actors in local housing markets, including tenants, buyers, landlords, firms and government.
Our quantitative analyses have identified major shifts in the structure of housing property regimes in Europe and the United States, including the expansion of private landlording in specific country contexts and emerging inequalities between property classes. Moreover, our analyses of housing precariousness and residential displacement move beyond the largely descriptive findings of previous approaches to their study in Europe, refining existing indicators and identifying their determinants through multivariate analysis. By linking citizenship with housing precariousness and displacement, we also bridge housing research and social stratification with the emerging literature on internal bordering.
Going forward, our quantitative research seeks to identify policy approaches and contextual factors that have exacerbated or mitigated the aforementioned socioeconomic divergence, as well as whether this trend has been accompanied by divergence or polarization in sociopolitical and cultural attitudes and health inequalities (primarily through self-reported health and the presence of chronic illness). We will also further explore the relationship of citizenship status with monthly rental and mortgage payments. Finally, further qualitative research seeks to clarify mechanisms through which risk is allocated among actors in local housing markets, including tenants, buyers, landlords, firms and government.