Editing Gentrification (section)

===Social changes===
[[File:La_Rambla_(Barcelona,_2023).jpg|thumb|Local neighbor protesting against tourists in La Rambla (Barcelona, Spain)]]
Many of the social effects of gentrification have been based on extensive theories about how [[socioeconomic status]] of an individual's neighborhood will shape one's behavior and future. These studies have prompted "social mix policies" to be widely adopted by governments to promote the process and its positive effects, such as lessening the strain on public resources that are associated with de-concentrating poverty. However, more specific research has shown that gentrification does not necessarily correlate with "social mixing", and that the effects of the new composition of a gentrified neighborhood can both weaken as well as strengthen community cohesion.<ref name="Freeman page needed">{{harvnb|Freeman|2006}}{{page needed|date=April 2019}}</ref>

Housing confers social status, and the changing norms that accompany gentrification translate to a changing social hierarchy.<ref name="Smith page needed"/> The process of gentrification mixes people of different socioeconomic strata, thereby congregating a variety of expectations and social norms. The change gentrification brings in class distinction also has been shown to contribute to residential [[Social polarization|polarization]] by income, education, household composition, and race.<ref name="Smith page needed"/> It conveys a social rise that brings new standards in consumption, particularly in the form of excess and superfluity, to the area that were not held by the pre-existing residents.<ref name="Smith page needed"/> These differing norms can lead to conflict, which potentially serves to divide changing communities.<ref name="Freeman page needed"/> Often this comes at a larger social cost to the original residents of the gentrified area whose displacement is met with little concern from the gentry or the government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goossens |first1=Cedric |last2=Oosterlynck |first2=Stijn |last3=Bradt |first3=Lieve |title=Livable streets? Green gentrification and the displacement of longtime residents in Ghent, Belgium |journal=Urban Geography |date=20 April 2020 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=550–572 |doi=10.1080/02723638.2019.1686307|hdl=2268/308253 }}</ref> Clashes that result in increased police surveillance, for example, would more adversely affect young minorities who are also more likely to be the original residents of the area.<ref name="Freeman page needed"/>

There is also evidence to support that gentrification can strengthen and stabilize when there is a consensus about a community's objectives. Gentrifiers with an organized presence in deteriorated neighborhoods can demand and receive better resources.<ref name="Freeman page needed"/> A characteristic example is a combined community effort to win historic district designation for the neighborhood, a phenomenon that is often linked to gentrification activity.<ref name="Lees page needed"/> Gentry can exert a peer influence on neighbors to take action against crime, which can lead to even more price increases in changing neighborhoods when crime rates drop and optimism for the area's future climbs.<ref name="Lees page needed"/>

Some argue that gentrification is associated with the decline of distinctive local businesses and the rise of chains and franchises.<ref name="alkon">{{cite journal |last1=Alkon |first1=Alison Hope |date=May–June 2018 |title=Entrepreneurship As Activism? Resisting Gentrification in Oakland, California |journal=Revista de Administação de Empresas |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=279–90 |doi=10.1590/S0034-759020180308 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meltzer |first1=Rachel |date=2016 |title=Gentrification and Small Businesses: Threat or Opportunity? |journal=Cityscape |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=57–85 |id={{ProQuest|1856560399}}}}</ref>

Rehabilitation movements have been largely successful at restoring the plentiful supply of old and deteriorated housing that is readily available in inner cities. This rehabilitation can be seen as a superior alternative to expansion, for the location of the central city offers an intact [[infrastructure]] that should be taken advantage of: streets, public transportation, and other urban facilities.<ref name="Lees page needed" /> Furthermore, the changed perception of the central city that is encouraged by gentrification can be healthy for resource-deprived communities who have previously been largely ignored.<ref name="Lees page needed" /> Gentrifiers provide the political effectiveness needed to draw more government funding towards physical and social area improvements,<ref name="Murdie page needed">{{harvnb|Murdie|Teixeira|2009}}{{page needed|date=May 2019}}</ref> while improving the overall quality of life by providing a larger tax base.<ref name="Quastel page needed" />

Communities have strong ties to the history and culture of their neighborhood, and causing its dispersal can have detrimental costs.<ref name="CDC" />