The origins of the concept “gentrification” within empire and decolonization: Ruth Glass and Claudia Jones in London

Abstract

The urban studies literature regularly cites Ruth Glass’s 1964 work without comment as the source of the concept “gentrification” and to reaffirm the premise that gentrification at its core is a purely economic process. This citation practice makes racism, as well as other processes, epiphenomenal. Given the ongoing importance of the term “gentrification” for present-day struggles against racism and displacement, relying uncritically on this 1964 work by Glass does us a disservice. Emerging at a key moment of decolonization, Glass’s concept reflects, without acknowledging, continuing British imperialism and its global transformation. In this paper, I return to the genesis of the concept and put Glass’s work in dialogue with that of Claudia Jones, a Caribbean-born communist exiled in London. This paper’s return to these origins and global conditions demonstrates that uncritically citing Glass continually brings us back to a limited economic understanding of gentrification, which obscures the very real imperialism, racism, and decolonization at its origins and today.

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