Hysteresis: Understanding the Housing Aspirations Gap

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative research on housing aspirations in Scotland, the objectives of this paper are three-fold. Firstly, this paper will contextualise the subject of housing aspirations within relevant research literature and situate it within wider debates which revolve around the relationship between housing and social class. Secondly, in order to understand the implications of the research, this paper uses Bourdieu's notion of 'sociodicy' to help explain the 'social' reasons which incline people to have housing aspirations. Thirdly, the data will be analysed to understand the differences in 'aspirations' between groups, concluding that the generational differences, which correspond to the epochal changes in the economy, are more important than class differences when understanding the uneven distribution of housing outcomes and housing wealth in developed societies. This paper concludes that the Bourdieusian concept of hysteresis explains the gap between the subjective expectations of young 'professionals' and the objective chances of their realisation.

Understanding changing housing aspirations: a review of the evidence

“…Whilst, therefore, the dialectical relationship between preferences and the material contexts of housing circumstances are central to the formation of aspirations, we do not yet sufficiently understand the interactions between subjective preferences and structural conditions (Crawford & McKee, 2018a). Gaining an enhanced understanding is particularly important at present, given the significant structural shifts occurring in the housing systems of the nations included in this review, which emerging research suggests may be realigning the housing aspirations of different generations and social groups.…”

“…Much research has explored stated housing preferences in a mobility/choice framework (Clark & Huang, 2003), whilst research in a more sociological tradition emphasizes the unconscious and embodied nature of preferences, arising from socialization into particular dispositions towards housing (Crawford & McKee, 2018a). Housing preferences are conceptualized as the expression of a desire or 'want' for a particular form of housing.…”

“…This is because, as Crawford and McKee (2018a) argue, the dispositions people have towards housing persist long after the social conditions which shaped them cease to exist. For example, in the UK, the post-war extension of housing and mortgage markets up to the 1990s made it easier for more affluent workingclass and middle-class households to set a generational trend towards homeownership (Crawford & McKee, 2018a), characterized by aspirations expanding to encompass options (such as homeownership) that would have been unimaginable to previous generations of these social groups. This highlights a crucial psychosocial element of aspirationsin order to exist they have to be imaginable.…”

“…The enduring impact of socialization into normative housing aspirations (Colic-Peisker & Johnson, 2010) is difficult to abandon, and individuals' housing aspirations continue to be influenced through intergenerational 'steering', for example in the presentation of housing as an 'ideal' intergenerational gift (Druta & Ronald, 2017). This lag generates an 'aspirational gap', as individuals still aspire to the same housing outcomes as previous generations, although over time aspirations may re-adjust and become normalized in relation to contextual realities (Crawford & McKee, 2018a). It is this 'aspirational lag' that is the primary reason why many current housing systems are defined as being 'in crisis'; that is, in a new and temporary state of extremes sharply contrasting with what went before.…”

“…Whilst these dimensionspolitical-economic, societal, cultural, individual and spatio-temporalare discussed separately in subsequent sections, it is important to recognize that these are inter-related and overlapping dimensions, rather than competing explanations. Although further empirical investigation is required, emerging research suggests that the relationship between socialized, subjective preferences and the wider structural possibilities for their realization is central to understanding housing aspirations (Crawford & McKee, 2018a). This is based on the underpinning theory that people are socialized to have particular dispositions towards in this casehousing (Berger & Luckman, 1966), and that these dispositions interact with possible opportunities, which are in turn structured by the political-economic environment.…”