This short essay supports Tom Slater’s argument that displacement has been decoupled from gentrification in the recent literature and that this has contributed to de‐politicized analyses of urban change. It also observes that meanings of gentrification have evolved to include the production of space for middle‐class consumption that does not involve direct displacement. The essay argues that these developments do not negate the fundamental class character of gentrification. On the contrary, it suggests that pointedly neoliberal urban policies and increasingly exclusive housing markets and ‘public’ spaces are re‐politicizing public debates.