Where Goes the Gayborhood? The Evolution of LGBTQ Organizational Clusters in the United States

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 11. Organizations

Abstract

Scholars debate whether cultural enclaves, examples of which include gayborhoods and ethnic neighborhoods, decline in prominence when minority group members are able to assimilate into the majority. The enclave may die out because group members no longer need to rely on community institutions, or it may persist as a meeting point for group members aiming to reinforce their community ties. Existing perspectives overlook that the enclave and its institutions can change and evolve to stay relevant in an era of assimilation. The authors analyze cultural enclaves from an organizational perspective, which reveals two mechanisms by which cultural enclaves adapt and respond to the assimilation of minority group members. The first is organizational renewal, in which the organizational composition of the cultural enclave shifts in order to serve the changing needs of the community. The second is audience spanning, in which organizations broaden their clientele to continue playing a role in their communities. Regression analysis of nationally complete data between 1973 and 2008 from the Gayellow Pages, a directory of organizations in the United States by and for the LGBTQ community, demonstrate the importance of these mechanisms. In spite of the claim that gayborhoods are dying, organizational renewal and audience spanning have resulted in varying growth patterns among LGBTQ organizational clusters in different times and places.

Authors

• Mahesh Somashekhar, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Jason Orne, Drexel University

• Giacomo Fabrizio Negro, Emory University

• Fabrizio Perretti, Bocconi University