Print Email Facebook Twitter Universalistic, particularistic and middle way approaches to comparing the private rental sector Part of: Comparative housing research: Approaches and policy challenges in a new international era· list the conference papers Title Universalistic, particularistic and middle way approaches to comparing the private rental sector Author Oxley, M. Haffner, M. Hoekstra, J. Van der Heijden, H. Date 2010-03-24 Abstract The paper will argue that the meaning and definition of private renting varies from country to country and this presents a series of challenges for comparative research. It will demonstrate a lack of equivalence between private rented housing sectors in Western Europe and show that this arises from variations in definitions, property rights, the role of the tenure in relation to other tenures, and differences in the characteristics of both landlords and tenants. It will show that an argument can be made that the private rental sector is a different phenomenon in different countries but that comparisons are still valuable. It will argue that between the extremes of universalism, that emphasises similarities, and particularism that emphasises differences, middle way approaches that consider contexts, apply commensurability and apply theory that is fit for purpose have strong methodological advantages. The argument will be expanded by reference to the authors work on applying the concept of a competitive gap between market and social renting in six European countries. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ef5f1d04-baa0-4a31-ac91-6df807223e80 Part of collection Conference proceedings Document type conference paper Rights (c) 2010 Oxley, M.; Haffner, M.; Hoekstra, J.; Van der Heijden, H. Files PDF Oxley.pdf 88.94 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:ef5f1d04-baa0-4a31-ac91-6df807223e80/datastream/OBJ/view