Map of Boston area by class

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

The Atlantic has an interesting look at the Boston area, mapping the city by the dominant class (creative, service, or working) in each census tract:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/03/class-divided-cities-boston-edition/5017/

The map pictured at the top of the article doesn't include Somerville, but the interactive map further down does. The tracts around Davis, for instance, are around 60-70% creative class, with between 1% and 6% working class.

Comments

[totient]

What's fascinating about this isn't the wave of gentrification emanating eastward from Davis, but the one emanating northward from Union at the same time.

[squirrelitude]

For people who didn't know what the terms meant, here's my summary from the descriptions down at the end of the article:

* Creative class: Skilled labor, high pay
* Working class: Skilled labor, lower pay
* Service class: Unskilled labor, low pay

...but I still don't trust that breakdown, and the names seem kind of meaningless.

[siderea]

That's awesome. Thanks for posting about it.

[cos]

Read Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class, to better understand what they actually mean. His model is that economic class is distinct from, though related to, things like social class or wealth. Economic class means "what is your primary economic role in society?"

Working class: Physical labor.

Service class: Providing a service. IOW, your time and attention is the key to the economic value you're providing.

Creative class: Your mind. It's not all high pay - musicians are quintessential creative class, for example, as are some political campaign workers. Grad students. Writers. Of course computer programmers and sysadmins and lawyers are also creative class, so it does include plenty of high pay jobs, but high pay is not a defining characteristic.