John Balzarini, Ph.D.

John Balzarini

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice

Campus Address: 129a Delaware Hall

Email: jbalzarini [at] desu.edu

(302) 857-7103

Education

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

M.A., Sociology, Temple University, 2006

Ph. D., Sociology, Temple University, 2013

Dissertation Committee: Anne Shlay (Chair), Matt Wray, Kevin Delaney and Bryant Simon.
Dissertation Title: “Casino Development and the Right to the City: Conflict and Community Place-Making in Philadelphia.”

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
Social Movements
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

2020 – John Balzarini and Melody Boyd. “Working with Them: Small-Scale Landlord Strategies for Avoiding Evictions.” Housing Policy Debate. DOI:10.1080/10511482.2020.1800779
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.
2016 – John E. Balzarini. Review of Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Journal of Children and Poverty. 22(2): 149-150.
2016 – John E. Balzarini. Review of Andrea S. Boyles, Race, Place, and Suburban Policing: Too Close for Comfort. Contemporary Sociology. 45(6): 727-728.
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.
2005 – John Balzarini, Rebecca Jenkins, Whitney Miles, Mellissa Pittaoulis, Alma-Kristina Rodriguez and Helen Marie Rosenbaum. “For whom Transformation Tolls? Philadelphia’s Neighborhood Revitalization Project.” In CUSS News: Newsletter of the Community & Urban Sociology Section.

Presentations (Selected)

Invited Presentations

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

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.
2019 – “Gatekeeping Communities: Understanding How Landlords Make Sense of and Capitalize on Neighborhood Change and Gentrification.” Delaware State University, Colloquium Series: Sustaining Social Science Research Culture at DSU. Dover, DE.
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.
2015 – “The Strength of Strong Ties and Collective Power in a Gentrifying Philadelphia Community.” Paper presented at the Delaware State University Roundtable Seminar Series, Dover, DE.

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).

Teaching

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