Yelp Reviewers Summary

In the article, “Gentrification Through the Eyes of Yelp Reviewers” by Richard Florida, Florida attempts to summarize and bring light to a recent sociological study of the gentrification of two Brooklyn neighborhoods with different demographics. This study focuses on the public perception of a popular restaurant in Greenpoint, a primarily Polish neighborhood, and an equally popular restaurant in Bed-Stuy, a primarily African-American neighborhood. According to Florida, the sociologists who conducted this study analyzed yelp reviews of both restaurants in order to determine the general public sentiments regarding the gentrification of both neighborhoods. Florida writes that the sociological research shows that in general, the Yelp Reviewers …show more content…
Online Restaurant Reviews, Race, and Gentrification.” The researchers of this study are Sharon Zukin, Scarlett Lindeman, and Laurie Hurson of City University of New York. The main research question for this study goes as follows: What are the connections between restaurant reviews, race, and gentrification? In order to answer this question the researchers used a more qualitative research methodology. Specifically, they did a “close analysis of the language in Yelp reviews, comparing reviews of restaurants in one gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, where most residents are African American, Caribbean American, and Black and in another where most residents are Polish and White” (Hurson, Lindeman, and Zukin, 2015). At the end of this study, the researchers found that the framing of the Yelp Reviews of the restaurant in African-American neighborhood was fused with a lot of racial bias, while the Yelp Reviews of the restaurant in the Polish neighborhood was judged far less severely. Essentially, the researchers found that the negative wording of Yelp Reviews and other online forums leads to the acceleration of gentrification in low socioeconomic neighborhoods with restaurants that are considered to be