My main question is who are some of the powerful actors in San Francisco and how do they extend their hegemony over public infrastructure and resources? Exploring this question will help me identify the power dynamics in San Francisco along with its moving and constant parts. As I find more data, it will become clear who the biggest landlords are and what their capital consists of, it will show me the rise of the tech industry in San Francisco and what the industry attracts, and it will show me the ways in which the government powers incentivizes and maintain power dynamics. On a more specific level, this will highlight significant laws passed that have legitimated power relations, the role of landlords in controlling the housing market/ property values, and how the tech industry attracts masses of people from the creative class. These three aspects do not exist in isolation and are instead intricately tied to one another and a major goal for this research paper is to zoom in on the different parts and then their commonalities in a larger process. In addition to identifying and connecting the ruling actors of San Francisco, I also want to uncover their relationship with the historically and presently marginalized in the city. Uncovering the relationship will help illustrate the negative conditions for marginalized people including racial and class discrimination, labor issues (wages, job availability, benefits), housing costs, access to healthcare, access to education, policing, and homelessness. Exploring problems for the marginalized in the city will be broad and uncover the power relations within San Francisco.
I will be using a broad set of data for my research paper including journal articles, publicly available oral histories, books, newspapers, and social media posts by social justice organizations and leaders.