Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Zabriskie, Queen

Area of Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how local youth (ages 22 to 25) of the city of San Francisco make sense of their identities and personal history in relationship to the changing surroundings as affected by tech industry gentrification. The guiding question of this research is, how are boundaries of community identity and belonging formed through the construction of narratives of time and place, in a contested urban landscape marked by inequality? Using grounded theory, I analyze 10 in-depth interviews to answer this research question. Two major themes emerge from the data: 1) the importance of nostalgia narratives that delineated the city, culture, and corresponding identities of San Francisco pre- and post- gentrification, and 2) the creation of boundaries of in and out group communities, which placed respondents and their shared experiences, values, and culture in proximity to ownership. Ultimately, I argue that San Francisco city kids understand their marginalization through the framework of cultural displacement, which, consequently, continues the erasure and displacement of long time San Francisco residents and others that don’t share the same experiences.

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