(Page 1 of 20) - The Changing Tastes of a Community: Gentrification and the Taste Hierarchy of Northampton authored by Aiello, Brittnie.

Brittnie Aiello

The University of Massachusetts

“The Changing Tastes of a Community”

Abstract: The gentrification of Northampton, Massachusetts has brought considerable
cultural change to the community. As class dynamics shift in the city, the hierarchy of
tastes is being re-ordered. Bourdieu (1984) argues that taste is a hidden function of the
class hierarchy, but in Northampton the process of gentrification sometimes allows
longtime residents to recognize the connection between taste and class, resulting in
conflict and resentment toward “newcomers.” Using three issues of change in
Northampton, I demonstrate Bourdieu’s (1984) theory of taste as a process. The
economic and cultural changes of downtown Northampton, the proliferation of
panhandlers on Main Street, and the growth and visibility of the lesbian community
produce a range of responses and opinions of longtime residents. As economic, cultural,
and political tastes change, Northampton residents contest the re-ordering of the taste
hierarchy on various levels.

Northampton, Massachusetts is a place where old and new come together. It is
simultaneously the kind of community that people love to visit for a good time and a
nice, quiet city in which to live. As a destination point, Northampton thrives with
numerous restaurants and shops that reside in buildings from centuries before. To look at
the tops of Main Street’s buildings is to glance back in time. Faded stenciling indicates
that a bank lived in the spot now occupied by a candy shop. Along the skyline of
downtown, you can see intricate brickwork and craftsmanship of another time. Shift your
eyes down, and a neon sign for a hairstylist is in the old-fashioned window.

In Northampton, it’s not unusual to see professionals and students flowing in and

out of Starbucks while next door, a group of leather-clad bikers congregates at their
favorite spot for an afternoon coffee or ice cream. Pick-up trucks with Bush/Cheney
bumper stickers leftover from the last election slowly make their way down Main Street,
past a small group of people protesting the war on the courthouse lawn. Young people
who grew up here tell me that they hunger to leave the city, but then always find their
way back to Northampton, happy to live here again.

For some residents of Northampton, the most meaningful contrast is between new

and old residents of the city, and their respective economic positions. A shift occurred in
Northampton during the late seventies/ early eighties. Since that time, the city has gone
through gentrification. The population has hovered around 30,000 people for the last
sixty years, but one need only look back ten years to see shifts in income. In 1989,
median family income in Northampton was $39,808, with 79 families earning incomes of
$150,000 or more. A decade later the median family income had increased to $56,844
and 358 families passed the $150,000 mark (US Census Bureau 2000).

Although seemingly dramatic, the extent of this gentrification is not notable when

compared to that of the nation and the state. Northampton’s median family income
increased at a slightly higher rate than that of the nation ($35,225 to $50,046), and at a

Median household income increased from $31,097 to 41,808. Per capita income rose from $14,623 to

$24,022 in the same ten-year period. I chose family income as the main comparison to offset the potential
effect of low-income students’ presence in the statistic, although the outcomes are similar.