Chris Hamnett
Biographic Data
| ID | 192502 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chris Hamnett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chris |
| FAMILY NAME | Hamnett |
| SIGNATURE | HAMNETT C |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9944-5891 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 86 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1471 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 86 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 20 |
Beyond participation
Ruth Glass
This paper analyses the contribution made by Ruth Glass to our understanding of gentrification and class change in London. It argues that not only was she remarkably ahead of her time in identifying and naming this important new phenomenon over 60 years ago, but that her discussion of the social and housing market impacts of gentrification have proved to be remarkably prescient. Although gentrification has taken many new forms which she could not…
The changing social class structure of London, 2001–2021
The changing class structure of cities has been a topic of considerable importance and debate for over a 150 years, since the industrial revolution created a large industrial proletariat in many western cities. But the rise of post-industrial society, the decline of the manufacturing industry, a shrinking industrial working class, and the growth of the professional and managerial class from the 1970s onwards has provoked fresh debate about this, …
Veni, vidi, gentri? – Social class change in London and Paris
This paper is a commentary and response to Anne Clerval’s paper Gentrification and social classes in Paris, 1982–2008, which is published in this volume. While agreeing with many of her conclusions regarding social class change and gentrification in Paris, and highlighting the parallels with London, the paper argues that both London and Paris have become more middle class cities in the last 40–50 years, not wholly middle-class cities. Second, it …
Gentrification and the role of the professional-managerial middle class
I would like to briefly respond to Anne Clerval’s comments. She is correct that I did not focus much on the definition of the professional managerial middle class in gentrification in my commentary
Top-down intergovernmental relations and power-building from below in China's urban redevelopment
Urban housing in contemporary China
The changing social structure of global cities
This paper addresses a simple, but very important, question. How has the occupational class structure of major world or global cities changed in recent decades? This has major social and theoretical implications given the claims made by Friedmann (1986) and Sassen (1991) regarding social polarisation in world or global cities. The paper outlines and compares three positions regarding the changing occupational class structure of world cities and o…
Is Chinese urbanisation unique
The future of cities in China is becoming increasingly important, not just within China but globally. China’s urban population has grown from about 200 million in 1980 to about 800 million or 59% in 2018: that is about twice the total population of the USA and 1.5 times the total population of the EU. China has over 100 cities with over a million people. There are also more and more papers being written about urbanisation in China. However, urban…
The reproduction of regional inequality through university access
This paper examines a specific form of regional inequality: the provision of and access to university education in China. It argues that given the very hierarchical structure of universities in China, with a small number of top universities, not only is the distribution of top level universities very regionally unequal but also, given the importance of the university entrance examination (Gaokao) in controlling entrance to university, the role of…
Mind the gap
The UK has had a long-standing regional house price gap with prices in London much higher than the rest of the UK. Using price data from 1969 to 2016 we track price differentials through several cycles of boom and bust, and note the growing divergence of London, particularly central London, from the rest of Britain. In explaining this divergence, we highlight the growing importance of international investment since the global financial crisis. We…
A world turned upside down
The last 30 years have seen a dramatic reshaping of the geography of the world economy. China and the Asia-Pacific region have witnessed rapid economic growth. Drawing on Wallerstein’s and Hobson’s work on the changing structure of the world economy and focusing on a number of economic changes that have taken over the last 30 years, including a analysis of changes in gross domestic product (GDP) manufacturing output, exports, foreign trade balanc…
Snakes and ladders
This analysis of the relative winners and losers from economic and social change in post-reform China focuses on the small, fourth-tier city of Siping, north-east China. Following Louis Chauvel’s work in France, the impact of economic transformation on different age cohorts is examined, and a ‘lucky generation’ is identified, made up notably of those born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, who were educated and whose working lives coincided…
The changing occupational class composition of London
This paper is a response to the paper by Manley and Johnston (2014, "London: A Dividing City, 2001-11?" City 18 (6): 633-643) which analyzed occupational class change in London 2001-14. While it queries some of their classifications, the census data show that middle class growth seems to have stalled in proportionate though not in absolute terms from 2001-11. However, this does not fundamentally challenge Hamnett and Butler's thesis that the midd…
Aspiration, Attainment and Success
In recent years, UK governments have implemented policies that emphasise the ability of parents to choose which school they wish their child to attend. Inherently spatial school-place allocation rules in many areas have produced a geography of inequality between parents that succeed and fail to get their child into preferred schools based upon where they live. We present an agent-based simulation model developed to investigate the implications of…
Re-classifying London
The paper is a response to Davidson and Wyly. While we agree with them that class and class conflict is an important element of cities, we disagree with many of their claims and assertions regarding our work. In particular, we argue that the growth of the middle class does not mean that we consider the working class unimportant or to have largely disappeared as they suggest. This is to muddle empirical findings and political agendas. The working …
Distance, education and inequality
In this paper we examine the role which distance, in a variety of forms, can play in the reproduction, intensification or reduction of educational inequality in different types of school systems in different countries. This is a very broad issue, and in the paper we examine the ways in which distance to school has emerged as an important factor in understanding the relationship between social and educational inequality in London. We begin by outl…
Shrinking the welfare state
Welfare spending is currently a key element of government expenditure in western countries and it has grown considerably since the Second World War. But there have been calls for cuts in spending that have intensified since the onset of the financial crisis and the stress on austerity. This has been associated with a shift in the nature of welfare policy to what has been termed ‘workfare’, where benefits are increasingly means tested, time limite…
Gentrification, Education and Exclusionary Displacement in E ast L ondon
In this article we draw on P eter M arcuse's discussion of different types of displacement using evidence from a recent study we conducted in East London to argue that there is clear evidence of ‘exclusionary displacement’ and ‘displacement pressure’ in terms of education and specifically the choice of schooling. We show how the incoming middle classes in the V ictoria P ark area of inner E ast L ondon have displaced not only existing poor reside…
I Wanted My Child to Go to a More Mixed School
The minority ethnic population of Britain has grown rapidly in recent decades, but the percentage of minority ethnic pupils has increased more rapidly. This is particularly the case in inner London where over 50% of secondary school pupils are now from minority ethnic groups. The paper examines the issue of schooling and ethnic mix in East London with a focus on parental perceptions of school ethnic mix and parental decision making. It draws on s…
Concentration or Diffusion? The Changing Geography of Ethnic Minority Pupils in English Secondary Schools, 1999–2009
Britain has seen a significant increase in the size of its ethnic minority population over the past 20 years. Because of the relatively youthful age structure of the ethnic minority population, the percentage of ethnic minorities in the school age-groups is much higher than its share of the overall population. Given the very uneven geographical distribution of ethnic minorities, this has raised concerns over the extent of school ethnic segregatio…
Praying for success? Faith schools and school choice in East London
Ethnicity, class and aspiration
Location 3 Education 3
In this paper we draw on three studies of social class change amongst the middle classes undertaken in London over the last 25 years to reflect on the changing values expressed by respondents to school choice. We argue that there has been a hardening of attitudes to school performance and a loss of middle-class autonomy towards schooling. Increasingly we note a concern to navigate the few areas of privilege in a school system designed for working…
Geography matters’
There is a longstanding literature on the unequal geographical distribution of welfare. In this paper we argue that increasingly geography is becoming the basis for rationing access to some forms of welfare. Focusing on access to secondary schools in East London, England, where the demand for places at the more popular schools generally far exceeds the number of places available, we show how distance from school has now become the primary means o…
The Blind Men and the Elephant
This paper critically reviews the major theories of gentrification which have emerged over the last 10 years and the debate which has surrounded them. It argues that the reason why the gentrification debate has attracted so much interest, and has been so hard fought, is that it is one of key theoretical battlegrounds of contemporary human geography which highlights the arguments between structure and agency, production and consumption, capital an…
Gentrification and the Middle-class Remaking of Inner London, 1961-2001
This paper reviews the debates over the explanation of gentrification and argues that gentrification is best explained as the social and spatial manifestation of the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy based on financial, business and creative services, with associated changes in the nature and location of work, in the occupational class structure, earnings and incomes and the structure of the housing market. The paper sets…
Social Polarisation in Global Cities
This paper examines the debate over social polarisation in global cities. It focuses on the claims made by Sassen that the processes of economic change in such cities are leading to a growing polarisation of the occupational and income structures whereby there is absolute growth at both the top and bottom ends of the distribution and a decline in the middle of the distribution. It is argued that while these claims may hold true for New York and L…
The Geography of Education
Contemporary human geography
Social Polarisation, Economic Restructuring and Welfare State Regimes
The central argument of this paper is that it is misconceived to view social polarisation of occupational structure and incomes in global cities as either inevitable or as a direct product of economic restructuring. It is argued that this neglects the key role of different welfare state structures which can and do influence both occupational and income structures independently of the processes of economic restructuring. The form and extent of pol…
Shrinking the welfare state
Welfare spending is currently a key element of government expenditure in western countries and it has grown considerably since the Second World War. But there have been calls for cuts in spending that have intensified since the onset of the financial crisis and the stress on austerity. This has been associated with a shift in the nature of welfare policy to what has been termed ‘workfare’, where benefits are increasingly means tested, time limite…
Housing the Two Nations
Geography matters’
There is a longstanding literature on the unequal geographical distribution of welfare. In this paper we argue that increasingly geography is becoming the basis for rationing access to some forms of welfare. Focusing on access to secondary schools in East London, England, where the demand for places at the more popular schools generally far exceeds the number of places available, we show how distance from school has now become the primary means o…
Loft Conversion and Gentrification in London
It is argued that many major Western cities have seen the conversion of centrally located commercial and industrial property to residential uses in recent years. This is seen as part of a wider process of change from industrial to postindustrial land uses and is a physical counterpart of the economic and occupational class transformation of these cities towards the growth of professional and managerial workers working in financial, business, and …
The Role of Landlord Disinvestment in Housing Market Transformation
Recent research has suggested the need to approach the analysis of residential differentiation and change in relation to the structure and operation of the housing market. This paper adopts such an approach in order to analyse a recent and particularly marked form of housing market restructuring in central London, namely the sale of previously privately rented flats in purpose-built blocks to individual owner-occupiers. Evidence of the extent and…
Inward and Upward
Converting the 2001 census NS-SEC categories back into SEG categories for the 1981 and 1991 censuses, the authors show that there is a continued process of class upgrading occurring within Greater London compared with the rest of England and Wales. Inner London continues to see an increase in the proportion of residents in the higher social classes (particularly in the boroughs that were already gentrified in the centre and west of the centre). I…
The potential and prospect for global cities in China
Gentrification, Class, and Gender
In this paper Warde's argument that gentrification is primarily an issue of gender is questioned. It is argued that class and gender are both important in understanding gentrification. Contra Warde, it is argued that gentrification is likely to be found in the distinctive locational patterns of particular fractions of the middle class, Evidence from a recent study of gentrification in northeast London suggests that gentrifiers are drawn dispropor…
Gentrification, Education and Exclusionary Displacement in E ast L ondon
In this article we draw on P eter M arcuse's discussion of different types of displacement using evidence from a recent study we conducted in East London to argue that there is clear evidence of ‘exclusionary displacement’ and ‘displacement pressure’ in terms of education and specifically the choice of schooling. We show how the incoming middle classes in the V ictoria P ark area of inner E ast L ondon have displaced not only existing poor reside…
The Sleep of Reason
A Nation of Inheritors? Housing Inheritance, Wealth and Inequality in Britain
This paper examines the growth of housing inheritance in Britain since the late 1960s using Inland Revenue statistics. It also uses survey evidence to examine the uneven distribution of inheritance by housing tenure, class and region, and assesses its implications for consumption cleavage theory. It argues that at present the social distribution of housing inheritance is far from equal, benefiting home owners and the professional and managerial c…
The changing socio-economic structure of London and the South East, 1961–1981
Hamnett C. (1986) The changing socio-economic structure of London and the South East, 1961–1981, Reg. Studies 20, 391–406. One of the problems frequently associated with metropolitan population decentralization is differential social change between cores and rings. The debate over the existence of social polarization has been particularly marked where London and the South East of England are concerned. The paper analyses the changing socio-econom…
Spatially Displaced Demand and the Changing Geography of House Prices in London, 1995–2006
This paper discusses the links between the growth of high incomes and gentrification in inner London on the homeownership market. It examines changes in average London house prices by borough using data from 1995 to 2006. It shows that while the top priced boroughs in 1995 were still at the top of the distribution in 2006, and the lowest priced boroughs were still at the bottom, there has been a catching up process with some of the highest rates …
Praying for success? Faith schools and school choice in East London
The Politics of Privatization
Moving the Poor Out of Central London? The Implications of the Coalition Government 2010 Cuts to Housing Benefits
There is no abstract for this paper
The best, the worst and the average
In this paper we investigate whether the distance between school and the pupil’s home is related to social background in a six borough area of East London. Also investigated is the extent to which schools in the area perform in line with expectations on the basis of the social composition of their intake. The research involves analysis of the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) to which geodemographic codes supplied by Experian have been att…
Distance, education and inequality
In this paper we examine the role which distance, in a variety of forms, can play in the reproduction, intensification or reduction of educational inequality in different types of school systems in different countries. This is a very broad issue, and in the paper we examine the ways in which distance to school has emerged as an important factor in understanding the relationship between social and educational inequality in London. We begin by outl…
The new Mikado? Tom Slater, gentrification and displacement
‘My object all sublime I shall achieve in time— To let the punishment fit the crime— The punishment fit the crime.’ W.S. Gilbert 1836–1911: The Mikado (1885) I was pleased to see Tom Slater’s provo
Social Change and Social Segregation in Inner London, 1961-71
Housing the Two Nations
The Role of Landlord Disinvestment in Housing Market Transformation
Recent research has suggested the need to approach the analysis of residential differentiation and change in relation to the structure and operation of the housing market. This paper adopts such an approach in order to analyse a recent and particularly marked form of housing market restructuring in central London, namely the sale of previously privately rented flats in purpose-built blocks to individual owner-occupiers. Evidence of the extent and…
The Postwar Restructuring of the British Housing and Labour Markets
In a recent paper in this journal, Thorns sought to relate together changes in the labour and domestic property markets in Britain since World War II. He argued that it was important to analyse the operation of these markets and the extent to which they operate to reinforce social inequalities. In this paper, it is argued that, although the issues Thorns raises are important ones, his analysis and conclusions are marred by his treatment of region…
State Housing Policy Formation and the Changing Role of Housing Associations in Britain
During the 1960s the Conservative government implemented legislation which provided financial support for the provision of privately rented accommodation by organisations independent of government. Their 1961 Housing Act established an exchequer fund to provide resources for housing associations providing accommodation at economic rents, and the 1964 Housing Act created the Housing Corporation to oversee the activity of the housing association mo…
The changing socio-economic structure of London and the South East, 1961–1981
Hamnett C. (1986) The changing socio-economic structure of London and the South East, 1961–1981, Reg. Studies 20, 391–406. One of the problems frequently associated with metropolitan population decentralization is differential social change between cores and rings. The debate over the existence of social polarization has been particularly marked where London and the South East of England are concerned. The paper analyses the changing socio-econom…
Office Development
The Church's Many Mansions
The changing nature and structure of land use in western capitalist cities cannot be understood independently of the goals and objectives of the owners and developers of property. These differ according to the relations of land ownership involved. Massey and Catalano have identified three categories of private landownership in contemporary Britain: former landed property, such as the Church Commissioners and the Crown Estates, industrial and fina…
The Myth of the Promised Land
North America has been viewed as a land of opportunity, where not only a high proportion of families but also families of diverse social backgrounds have been able to acquire a home. From a comparative perspective, this perception is less accurate today than it was a century ago. In the late nineteenth century the overall level of home ownership was higher in Canada and the U.S. than it was in England and Wales, but lately the gap has closed. Tod…
A Tale of Two Cities
The late 1960s saw the reemergence of concern over the growth of social polarisation in London. Much of the evidence produced subsequently has been fragmentary and inconclusive, the results depending on the geographical extent of the analyses, the time periods, and levels of spatial disaggregation utilised. Using head of household data for 1966 and 1981, it is shown that the level of social polarisation between London and the rest of the South Ea…
Labour and Housing Market Change in London
In market economies the housing market operates to sift and sort households into different sections of the market by occupation and income. Changes in the distribution of households across the housing market can therefore occur as a result of changes in the structure of occupation and income or changes in the supply of housing by tenure and price. Britain has witnessed major changes in both occupational composition and the tenure structure of the…
The Politics of Privatization
Ethnic minorities in the London labour market
Cities, Housing and Profits
Originally published in 1988, this book documents and explains the emergence of flat ‘break-ups’ – the sale of individual owner occupation of blocks of flats which were previously privately rented and which played a major role in the transformation of the private housing market in London since the 1960s. The book shows that the flat break-up market in London was not a unique phenomenon but one of the most geographically concentrated manifestation…
Sociotenurial Polarisation in London and the South East
It is argued in this paper that Berge's valuable reanalysis of my data generally supports, rather than contradicts, my conclusions regarding social and tenurial change in the South East. His use of indices of overrepresentation and underrepresentation points to the central role of the housing market in shaping the spatial distribution of different social groups. Although he shows that professionals and managers became slightly less proportionatel…
Restructuring Britain
Cities Housing and Profits
Restructuring Britain
Special issue on the housing implications of an ageing society
The Blind Men and the Elephant
This paper critically reviews the major theories of gentrification which have emerged over the last 10 years and the debate which has surrounded them. It argues that the reason why the gentrification debate has attracted so much interest, and has been so hard fought, is that it is one of key theoretical battlegrounds of contemporary human geography which highlights the arguments between structure and agency, production and consumption, capital an…
Housing and Labour Markets
Part 1 Building the connections: housing markets, labour markets and discontinuity theory, Bill Randolph. Part 2 Understanding the connections: housing markets, labour markets and housing histories, Ray Forrest and Alan Murie labour migration and housing in the UK, John Salt housing markets and labour markets in the quartered city, Peter Marcuse the restructuring of work and home - productive and reproductive relations, Sophie Watson. Part 3 Mapp…
The Relationship between Residential Migration and Housing Tenure in London, 1971-81
In this paper, OPCS (Office of Population Censuses and Surveys) 1% longitudinal study data for a sample of 60500 individuals were used to examine the relationships between housing tenure and residential migration in inner and outer London between 1971 and 1981. Three questions are examined. First, the extent to which migration rates within and from London differ by tenure and their links to differences in the socioeconomic composition of tenures;…
A Nation of Inheritors? Housing Inheritance, Wealth and Inequality in Britain
This paper examines the growth of housing inheritance in Britain since the late 1960s using Inland Revenue statistics. It also uses survey evidence to examine the uneven distribution of inheritance by housing tenure, class and region, and assesses its implications for consumption cleavage theory. It argues that at present the social distribution of housing inheritance is far from equal, benefiting home owners and the professional and managerial c…
Gentrifiers or Lemmings? A Response to Neil Smith
In his reply to my paper 'The Blind Men and the Elephant', Neil Smith has, with the exception of a few rather tough adjectives to describe my position and presumed politics, mounted an interesting defence of his position and an attack on what he alleges to be mine. This response focuses on the arguments not the adjectives. Smith's argument is in two halves. The first half consists of a defence of his position. This consists partly of the predicta…
Equity Release Schemes and Equity Extraction by Elderly Households in Britain
The policy and popular debates suggest that the housing equity of elderly home-owners has provided them with a considerable stock of wealth which will influence the future social structure of the United Kingdom, as wealth is transferred to a wider cross-section of British society through inheritance. While various estimates suggest that the distribution of intergenerational transfers of equity is set to widen in the future (Hamnett, Harmer and Wi…
Economics (55 works) · Political science (50 works) · Sociology (48 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (43 works) · Geography (38 works) · Law (30 works) · Economic geography (29 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (26 works) · Law (24 works) · Economic growth (23 works)