Eighteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Displacement, physically, involves the moving of an object from its place, and the corresponding volume created by the object’s absence. This paper explores how the state uses displacement—both the removal of an individual and the empty volume the individual leaves behind—as a method of social control in contemporary society, breaking social bonds to reduce community solidarity, cultural transmission, and political action. We argue that, in the United States, the state utilizes displacement as a tactic to suppress Black and Indigenous communities, and low-income communities. While research has documented the impacts of various forms of displacement and the concentration of community loss, this paper examines the political implications of mass displacement. We focus on New York City, drawing on publicly available data to quantify the concentration of displacement within the city, and estimate the effects of increases in displacement on civic and political. We concentrate on three forms of displacement at the community district level: incarceration (adult and child jail admissions, foster care placements), housing disruption (evictions, homeless shelter entries, and residential turnover), and premature mortality (community violence, suicide, and environment-related mortality). We quantify each form of displacement individually and create a cumulative index that shows the concentration of displacement in specific neighborhoods. We model the impact of these forms of displacement on civic engagement (volunteering, community organizations), community trust, and political participation (voter registration, budget requests). Our findings emphasize the use of displacement as a key tactic in the maintenance of the state, structural oppression, and capitalism.