Mahesh Somashekhar

Folks, now that you don’t need a code to join Bluesky, I’m switching to doing most of my posting there at msoma.bsky.social. I’ll still be on X and Mastodon, just much less regularly. Hope to see you all there!

This paper is now out in print! Read it at the link below, or feel free to email me to get a copy. academic.oup.com/socpro/advance…

Have you ever wondered where ZIP codes come from, and why they matter? I had a fun chat with @RachelStewart04 about this for an episode of her awesome podcast, Don't Drink the Milk. Check it out! pod.link/1704462801/epi… @uicsoc @ComUrbASA @UAAnews @theAAG

@smgaddis @socprobsjournal Aw, thanks. It took a long time to get over the post-pandemic funk, but I’m glad I made it. Maybe catch up at PAA?

Excited to announce my forthcoming article at @socprobsjournal on what happens to White people displaced from gentrified neighborhoods. TL;DR: they are demographically similar to non-White displacees but end up in better neighborhoods tinyurl.com/2h9ckznn

@bjrisman @socprobsjournal Thank you so much!

@msomashe @socprobsjournal congratulations. Looks interesting and important!

Displacement is jointly an issue of race *and* class. Arguments that reduce displacees to non-White people or poor people are overly simplistic, at least in the U.S. context.

White and non-White displacees are similarly renters, single, etc. But, White displacees are richer and leave wealthier neighborhoods. On average, their *destination* neighborhoods are richer than the *origin* neighborhoods of non-White displacees.

Come to #ASA2024 for the rain, but stay for my presentation on the growing infrastructure of retailers and other firms that cater to Christian Nationalist consumers. Saturday @ 4pm in Palais 517C!

@smgaddis @uicsoc @UICnews Thanks! Hope to see you at ASA!

How does the real estate industry try to get those first rich people to move in and gentrify a poor neighborhood? They emphasize the availability of home security, of course. For more, see my latest in @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews 🧵journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23…

@sjccorn @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews Agreed! Definitely reach out to my co-authors to learn more about the dataset. I was lucky they let me use it.

@msomashe @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews interesting dataset too! Sure there are more great research questions to uncovered by looking at real estate advertisements and exclusionary language use

@SamLutzker @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews Please send your study my way once you've written it up! I'm glad our finding is resonating with you. I certainly see stuff like that all the time in Chicago too!

@zra_research @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews Thank you!

@AliciaMWalker1 @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews Will do, thanks!

@msomashe @SociusJournal @ComUrbASA @UAAnews Fascinating! I would love it if you wrote about it for the Council on Contemporary Families blog hosted by The Society Pages. DM or email me if you're at all interested.

And a big shout out to my co-authors, Chris Hess, Ian Kennedy, and Kyle Crowder for their work on the paper! @uicsoc @UICnews

Findings suggest that scholars have underexamined the strategies that real estate actors use to persuade homeseekers to live in diverse neighborhoods. Also, security rhetoric may encourage homeseekers’ fears of mixed-income settings and impede cross-class social integration.

@BediTarini Thank you! Don’t be a stranger the next time you’re on campus!

@msomashe Congratulations Mahesh! Great to see UIC colleagues being supported by NSF and doing this impactful research!

Excited to tell the world about my new NSF grant analyzing what happens to community organizations displaced from gentrifying neighborhoods. I'll be geocoding 50 years of data on organizations in the U.S. Happy to chat more with anyone who is interested! nsf.gov/awardsearch/sh…

@ijuanathesaurus Thanks! I hope the findings live up to your superlative!

@msomashe Incredible project! Congratulations!