John Balzarini, Ph.D.

John Balzarini

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice

Campus Address: 129a Delaware Hall

Email: jbalzarini [at] desu.edu

Website

Education

Ph. D., Sociology, Temple University, 2013

M.A., Sociology, Temple University, 2006

B.A., Sociology, West Chester University, 2001

Research Interests

John is an urban sociologist whose work focuses on gentrification, urban development, and rental housing in Philadelphia. His work looks at the ways community actors make sense of neighborhood changes associated with gentrification and development and how various groups articulate and utilize competing claims to the right to the city in order to achieve community-level goals.

His current research project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a study looking at how landlords in Philadelphia make sense of their roles as housing providers in a gentrifying city. Pulling from interviews and participant observations, his research reveals the complex and often misunderstood perspectives of rental housing providers in relation to the communities in which they operate and the tenants for whom they provide rental housing.

Research focus

Urban Sociology
Community
Uneven Development and Inequality
Urban Culture
Gentrification
Landlords and Housing
Neoliberal Urbanization
Social Networks and Social Capital

Areas of Expertise

Survey Design
Qualitative Methods & Analyses
Social Science Research Evaluation & Consultation

Consulting Experience

2022 to present – Qualitative Methods Consultant and Research Project Evaluator, Research Capacity Core, RCMI - Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center, Delaware State University.
2023 to present – Research Evaluation Consultant, Evaluation of the Healthy Housing Project, Catholic Charities, USA.

Consultation Expertise

As a consultant for the IHER Center at Delaware State University, John provides feedback and support to faculty, researchers, and students from different disciplines across DSU who are at various stages of development and implementation of their research projects. He specializes in providing consultation for research incorporating qualitative methods in their data collection and analysis.

Selected Publications

2024 – John Balzarini & Melody L. Boyd. “Cashing Out?: How Small-Scale Landlords in Philadelphia Perceive Big Development and Tax Policies.” Housing & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/08882746.2024.2345525
2021 – John Balzarini & Melody L. Boyd. “Working with Them: Small-Scale Landlord Strategies for Avoiding Evictions.” Housing Policy Debate. 31(3-5): 425-445.
2018 – John E. Balzarini and Anne B. Shlay. “The Strength of Strong Ties Reconsidered: Social Ties and Collective Power in a Gentrifying Community.” Social Currents. 5(1): 67-85.
2016 – John E. Balzarini and Anne B. Shlay. “Gentrification and the Right to the City: Community Conflict and Casinos.” Journal of Urban Affairs. 38(4): 503-517.
2015 – Anne B. Shlay and John Balzarini. “Urban Sociology.” In: James D. Wright (editor-in-chief), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol 24. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 926–933.

Presentations (Selected)

Invited Presentations

2024 – “The Gatekeepers: Understanding Landlords and the Supply-Side of Rental Housing in Philadelphia.” Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
2018 – Panelist: “Regional Spotlight: Inequality in the Philadelphia Area.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2018 – Panelist: “Sociology Alumni in Academic Careers.” Temple University, Department of Sociology, Philadelphia, PA.

Conference Presentations

2023 – “Momlords, Investors, and Benevolent Landlords: Analyzing the Trajectories of Landlords’ Entry into Rental Housing.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
2023 – “Getting In and Getting Out: Trajectories of Landlords’ Tenure in Rental Real Estate.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the ‘Housing and Urban Sociology I paper session, at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Baltimore, MD.
2022 – “Working with Them: Landlord Strategies for Avoiding Evictions.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Washington, DC.
2022 – “Cashing Out?: How Big Development Impacts Small-Scale Landlords in Philadelphia.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the ‘Space, Place, and People,’ paper session at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, MA. *Virtual Session
2021 “Gentrifying the Gentrifiers?: Small-Scale Landlords, Tax Abatements, and Development in Philadelphia.” Paper presented at the ‘Responding to the Politicization of Space: Spatial Inequality and Claims-Making,’ Community and Urban Sociology Section (CUSS) regular session at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. *Virtual Meeting
2020 – “Avoiding Eviction: How Landlords Attempt to Keep Tenants in their Homes.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the Displacement and Disparities in Urban Environments, Community and Urban Sociology Section (CUSS) regular session at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA. *Virtual Session
2020 – “Landlords versus the Growth Machine: Landlord Perspectives on Philadelphia’s 10-year Tax Abatement and Uneven Development.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Philadelphia, PA.
2019 – “Mediating Evictions in Landlord/Tenant Relationships.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter). Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, MA.
2019 – Speaker: “Critical Ethnographies: Case Studies of Identity, Intergenerational Wealth, and Urban Renewal.” At the University of Pennsylvania Ethnography in Education Research Forum, Philadelphia, PA.
2017 – “The Attitudes and Agency of Landlords in Gentrifying Neighborhoods.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, Minneapolis, MN.
2017 – “Community Activism and the Power of Place-Based Social Ties.” Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Philadelphia, PA.
2017 – “Gatekeeping Community: The Role of Landlords in Shaping Neighborhood Change.” (Melody Boyd, co-presenter) Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Philadelphia, PA.
2016 – “Place-Identity and the Right to the City: Gentrification, Ethnicity and Anti-Casino Activism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, San Diego, CA.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2004 to Present – American Sociological Association
2011 to Present – Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association
2011 to Present – Urban Affairs Association
2012 to Present – Eastern Sociological Society

Grants

2018 National Science Foundation (with Melody Boyd, SUNY Brockport): “Gatekeeping Communities: The Role of Landlords in Neighborhood Change and Gentrification” ($56,904).

Courses Tought

SCCJ 618 (Graduate) Urban Structure and Process
SCCJ 601 (Graduate) Sociological Theories
SCCJ 305 Urban Sociology
SCCJ 310 Social Stratification
SCCJ 408 Sociology of Poverty
SCCJ 448 Senior Seminar
SCCJ 351 Sociology of the Family
SCCJ 101H Introduction to Sociology (Honors)
SCCJ 200 Writing in the Major
SCCJ 435 Social Change
SCCJ 202 Social Deviance
SCCJ 191-192 University Seminar I & II