Exam 1 results

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Mean: 71.5

Range: 56-85

Mean (4.0): 3.3

Range (4.0): 2.6-4.0

To convert your score:

(Raw Score/85)*4

Residential Segregation

Residential segregation has proven to be the most resistant to change of all realms -

perhaps because it is so critical to racial change in general.

-Thomas Pettigrew

Why study residential segregation?

Sociology is concerned with residential segregation because

1. Residential/spatial distribution patterns are seen as mirroring social patterns/relationships

2. Residential (and distribution patterns in general) have consequences for life chances (contextual effects of community)

Conceptualizing Residential Patterns

“Segregation” - pattern of diffuse distributions across geographical units (blocks, census tracts, etc)

“Concentration” - form of segregation where all groups are not only dissimilar in distribution, but are also clustered together

“Centralization” - From of segregation and concentration in which one group is clustered near the center

Conceptualizing Residential Patterns

“Segregation”

“Concentration”

“Centralization”

Measuring Segregation

Index of Dissimilarity The result is the percentage of one group that would have

to move to get an equal distribution 0 = perfectly distributed (no segregation) 100 = no mixture of groups (fully segregated)

Contact measures Chances of running into a similarly raced person

Isolation Index - the probability that you will meet someone in your group

Interaction Index - probability that you will meet someone from another group

History of U.S. segregation

Early 20th century (pre-civil rights legislation) Less extreme black-white segregation at turn of century In northern cities some blacks shared neighborhoods with

poor immigrants Black isolation was slight in 1890, increased over the next

two decades and took off in 1910-1930 WWI

Immigration declines while blacks began “Great Migration” Ecological theory - new immigrant groups are more

segregated Competition for urban space leads to fire bombings,

restrictive covenants, and mortgage discrimination

1980s and 1990s

Some decline but blacks still most segregated Lower in West and South than in the North, Midwest

or Northeast The south has spatial integration but still social segregation

Challenges to segregation in the 1960-90 led to some decrease Federal housing policy - “Fair Housing Act” Liberalization of white’s attitudes Gains in housing construction Growth of Black middle class

Consequences of Segregation

Political Isolation Linguistic isolation Poverty Concentration (expensive goods) Educational exclusion Adaptation of “oppositional culture” Segregation is worse for blacks and PR

Segregation + Poverty

Limits access to jobs - “Spatial Mismatch” Greater Health Risks

Explanations for segregation

Human Ecology Model (everyone) - predicts segregation based on demographic and structural variables Region, City size/age, new housing starts,

suburbanization Socioeconomic Status differences (Wilson) -

higher incomes allow exodus from city centers Race is not the cause, blacks with requisite financial

resources move to suburbs Evidence is mixed

Explanations (cont)

Preferences of Whites (Massey, Farley) - segregation persists because whites choose to live away from and exclude blacks from their neighborhoods Black preferences have shifted away from integration, White

toward but not by much Discrimination by Individuals - official discrimination has

given way to unofficial Links preferences to outcomes Whites may have fixed tolerance for living near minorities

Explanations (cont)

Discrimination by institutions (Massey, Farley) - real estate and lending practices Audit studies demonstrate that blacks are denied

more often and receive less favorable rates when granted a loan than similarly situated whites “Redlining”, restrictive housing covenants

Same for rental market Massey’s work in Philadelphia

Whites benefit from poverty concentration

Redlining

Economic Inequality: Cause or Consequence?

Massey and Denton Segregation causes inequality/poverty Discriminatory housing practices cause and maintain

segregation Blacks with higher SES are more likely to share a tract with

blacks of lower SES than whites

Wilson SES is the problem Deindustrialization, suburbanization, “Spatial Mismatch” Black community is segregated according to SES

“White Flight”

Concerned with the extent to which racial and non-racial characteristics are associated with the “flight” of whites from central cities 1960-70s Frey - No: flight can be accounted for by

deteriorating economy and social environment (tax revenues, crime rates, job relocation) rather than race itself (% black, school desegregation)

Crowder - Yes: Racial makeup matters Increases in Asian and Hispanic do not matter. Only

for increases in black population