Bourdieu, rational action and the time-space strategy of gentrification

This paper proposes gentrification as an example of class habitus adjusting to a new field via a time-space strategy that involves conscious rational coordination of class agents on a new aesthetic 'focal point'. This approac h suggests: (1) a much greater role for conscious rational processes in bot h the intentional and intuitive processes of class reproduction; (2) an und erstanding via gentrification of the symbolic significance of time-space in class processes; (3) the significance of individual class agents in the pr ocess of gentrification; (4) a view of gentrification that gives greater pr ominence to working-class taste and habitus.