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Framing Inflation and Investment: The New York Times and the Cultural Context of a Local Housing Market

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Abstract

Examining the work of local media can be a valuable starting point for exploring the institutionally shaped cultural contexts within which local housing markets are embedded and for shedding light on market phenomena like local housing bubbles. This paper draws on a qualitative analysis of articles published in the Real Estate section of the New York Times to explore some of the meanings about homeownership, home-buying, and market behavior that were institutionally reinforced in New York City during a period of growing unease about the direction of the local market. Through the use of framing analysis, I conclude that the New York Times symbolically reinforced the contradictory role that real estate, “the secondary circuit of capital” plays in the economy.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the anonymous reviewers, journal editor David Smilde, and Elena Landriscina for their invaluable help on the earlier versions of this paper. I also wish to thank Polly Cleveland and Amy Stuart. I acknowledge support from the St. Joseph’s College Faculty Development Small Grants program.

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  1. Department of Social Sciences, St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, NY, 11205, USA

    Mirella Landriscina

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Landriscina, M. Framing Inflation and Investment: The New York Times and the Cultural Context of a Local Housing Market. Qual Sociol 35, 271–292 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-012-9230-8

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