How Segregated Are Middle-Class African Americans?

Abstract

The prevailing opinion in the sociological literature is that middle-class blacks are almost as segregated from whites as are poor blacks. We re-examine this view, using a multivariate, locational-attainment approach in place of a segregation-index one. Controlling for a variety of socioeconomic characteristics, we find that middleincome, suburban African Americans live in neighborhoods with many more whites than do poor, inner-city blacks. But their neighborhoods are not the same as those of whites having the same socioeconomic characteristics; and, in particular, middle-class blacks tend to live with white neighbors who are less affluent than they are. While, in a significant sense, they are less segregated than poor blacks, race still powerfully shapes their residential options. I don't believe that people would object to Lena Home [as a neighbor]. I don't think they would object to Harry Belafonte. I think they're afraid of poverty, and they associate welfare and low income, whether you're Italian, Greek, Irish, or upstate Clinton County. —Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo speaking of segregation in Yonkers