Distinctions Between Displacement and Separation

Abstract

The previous chapter documents that the separation index (S) can reveal the presence of important aspects of residential segregation that cannot be reliably established by examining the more widely used dissimilarity index (D). Specifically, S reliably indicates whether groups are separated and live apart from each other in different areas of the city and experience substantially different residential outcomes – at minimum with respect to area racial composition and potentially also on other neighborhood outcomes that co-vary with area racial composition. High values on S thus signal that groups are residentially separated and reside apart from each other in areas that are polarized on racial composition. The same cannot be said for D. To the contrary, D can and sometimes does take high values when two groups are not residentially separated and in fact live together in the same neighborhoods and experience quantitatively similar residential outcomes on area racial composition. Thus, high values on D cannot and do not reliably signal the presence of group residential separation and neighborhood racial polarization.