Levels Of Residential Segregation Research Articles

The Search for Community Cohesion: Key Themes and Dominant Concepts of the Public Policy Agenda

The community cohesion policy agenda in England emerged from the melee of explanation and advice that abounded in the aftermath of the street disturbances in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham in the summer of 2001. Various reports were published examining issues arising from the disturbances and providing recommendations for action. In 2002, the government responded with the launch of guidance on community cohesion for local authorities and established the Community Cohesion Unit, which was set the twin tasks of reviewing government policy and encouraging new learning and good practice in community cohesion at the local level. Housing was recognised as a key theme within this agenda, having been blamed in the various reports into the disturbances in 2001 for contributing towards high levels of residential segregation in many English towns, which were assumed to lead to different populations living, working and socialising separately. This paper explores this causal story, by first considering the particular conceptualisations of community and multiculturalism informing this new policy agenda, before moving on to question the integrity of four fundamental pillars on which the community cohesion agenda has been built: the assumed self-segregation of South Asian households within certain towns and cities; the role that housing policy and provision have played in reinforcing this process of self-segregation; the potential of housing interventions to reverse this process and to promote residential integration; and the curative benefits that will flow from greater interethnic residential mix.

Ethnic Geography Dynamics: Clues from Los Angeles

The five-county metropolitan region of Los Angeles has such large ethnic populations that it can show ethnic geography trends and patterns not easily identified in smaller places. I use Los Angeles to illustrate three dynamics that seem neglected in the urban literature. First, significant out-movement from poor, more central areas of Los Angeles into suburbs means that Blacks, Latinos, and Asians are no longer trapped in such neighborhoods, as was the case a half century ago. Second, many suburbs, particularly those built after about 1970, contain racially and ethnically diverse populations, some with very low levels of residential segregation between groups. Last, rates of ethnic group intermarriage with other groups are higher outside each group's area of residential concentration, and Blacks and Whites in Los Angeles are more likely to be married outside their respective groups than in the U.S. as a whole. All this evidence suggests the value of studying Los Angeles and suburbs as indicators of the nation's future ethnic geography.

Neighborhood Opportunities, Race, and Class: The Black Middle Class and Residential Segregation

Racial residential segregation has received considerable attention from social scientists who, in general, have found that African Americans, particularly those in large, northeastern and midwestern metropolitan areas have been highly segregated from whites since at least the beginning of the Great Migration. This analysis combines research on racial residential segregation with research about residential segregation based on social class in order to study the segregation of middle‐class blacks from middle‐class whites. By using Census data that incorporate consistent geographic definitions of Census tracts in 50 U.S. metropolitan areas from 1970 to 1990, I assess change in the levels of residential segregation between middle‐class blacks and middle‐class whites. The index of dissimilarity indicates that while there was a decrease in the segregation of middle‐class blacks from middle‐class whites between 1970 and 1990, in many metropolitan areas this segregation remained high through 1990. The analysis also shows that middle‐class blacks lived in neighborhoods, on average, with considerably more poverty, more boarded‐up homes, more female‐headed households, and fewer college graduates than neighborhoods inhabited by middle‐class whites. Overall, the results suggest that, for the most part, these groups remain residentially separated in U.S. metropolitan areas.

The housing market impact of state-level anti-discrimination laws, 1960–1970

This paper measures the housing-market impact of state-level anti-discrimination laws in the 1960s using household-level and census-tract data. State “fair-housing” laws were the direct antecedents of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, and policy variation across states facilitates estimates of the laws' impact. During the 1960s, Blacks' housing-market outcomes improved relative to Whites', and the proportion of exclusively White census tracts declined markedly, but there is little evidence that the fair-housing laws contributed to those changes. There is some evidence that Black renters may have benefited from the laws, but the bulk of the evidence suggests insignificant effects on Blacks' housing-market outcomes, the level of residential segregation, and the value of property in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Linguistic segregation in urban South Africa, 1996

South Africa is a multi-lingual country with 11 official languages and a recent history where language was frequently used as a political instrument, notably in the urban areas. Although the cities were initially colonial foundations, as a consequence of rural–urban migration, the speakers of the various national languages have come into close contact with one another. However, as a result of the inheritance of apartheid town planning and its emphasis on racial zoning, residential segregation levels between some linguistic groups have been extremely high. An analysis of the 1996 census results reveals that the uniformly high segregation levels between the speakers of indigenous African languages and the speakers of Afrikaans and English are the direct outcome of apartheid era town planning. Nevertheless, segregation between the speakers of different African languages may also on occasion be relatively high where homeland political policies were pursued, although this was the exception rather than the rule. Similarly segregation between English and Afrikaans speakers was locally high where home language coincided with former racial classification. Few immediate significant changes are anticipated in the present patterns of linguistic segregation, as the inherited apartheid city structure is proving to be remarkably resistant to transformation.

Urban Education: Challenges in Educating Culturally Diverse Children

This article provides an overview of America's urban population based on the 2000 Census and the implications of increasing cultural diversity for urban public schools. It addresses three basic questions: 1. What does America's population look like at the beginning of the 21st century? 2. What challenges do children and their families face in this time of rapid demographic change? 3. What role can communities play in helping culturally diverse children do well in school? Current demographic trends indicate that ethnic minorities, especially immigrant groups, not only grow rapidly, but are also increasingly concentrated in urban areas, and that the level of residential segregation by race and class in 2000 remains as high as in 1990. Demographic shifts create new challenges for the education of racial minority and immigrant children. At issue is not whether children are able to advance beyond their parents’ status—many do so because their parents are insufficiently educated and are struggling at the society's bottom—but whether they can move up to and secure a position in the ranks of the American middle class. Research has shown that certain children living in the inner city are able to do well, despite adversarial conditions. A key difference is the availability and accessibility of community-based resources, such as after-school tutoring and other educationally oriented programs, that serve children.

Urban Education: Challenges in Educating Culturally Diverse Children

This article provides an overview of America's urban population based on the 2000 Census and the implications of increasing cultural diversity for urban public schools. It addresses three basic questions: 1. What does America's population look like at the beginning of the 21st century? 2. What challenges do children and their families face in this time of rapid demographic change? 3. What role can communities play in helping culturally diverse children do well in school? Current demographic trends indicate that ethnic minorities, especially immigrant groups, not only grow rapidly, but are also increasingly concentrated in urban areas, and that the level of residential segregation by race and class in 2000 remains as high as in 1990. Demographic shifts create new challenges for the education of racial minority and immigrant children. At issue is not whether children are able to advance beyond their parents’ status—many do so because their parents are insufficiently educated and are struggling at the society's bottom—but whether they can move up to and secure a position in the ranks of the American middle class. Research has shown that certain children living in the inner city are able to do well, despite adversarial conditions. A key difference is the availability and accessibility of community-based resources, such as after-school tutoring and other educationally oriented programs, that serve children.

Ethnic Differences in Urban Neighbour Relations in Israel

This study considers the role of ethnic differences in the relevance of the local community as a network of social relations that provide companionship, friendship and social support. Data for this study were collected from a representative sample of the population in the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-largest metropolitan area in Israel. It was found that measures of investment in the neighbourhood such as home-ownership and stage in the life-cycle were not related to the number of locally based instrumental ties. However, nationality had a negative effect. Israeli Jews reported fewer locally based instrumental ties than the Arab Israelis. The findings provide partial support for compression theory. Israeli Arabs reported a higher number of locally based instrumental social ties than Israeli Jews. Apparently their higher levels of residential segregation compressed their social relationships to the local neighbourhood more than was the case for Israeli Jews. Implications of the findings for other theoretical frameworks are discussed.

Residential Segregation and Ethnic Enterprise in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

In this paper, we specify and estimate a model of minority group entrepreneurship that incorporates individual, household, and metropolitan-level factors. Among the metropolitan factors we consider is residential segregation, which might be thought to enhance business opportunities by concentrating demand and creating protected market niches. Whereas some degree of geographic concentration may be beneficial for certain types of entrepreneurship, higher levels of residential segregation are likely to be detrimental to entrepreneurial endeavors because of the tendency for segregation to interact with skewed minority income distributions to concentrate poverty geographically. Using data from the 1990 U.S. Census, we estimate a model to measure the effect of segregation on the likelihood of entrepreneurship among different racial/ethnic groups in U.S. metropolitan areas. We find that beyond very moderate levels, segregation actually works to lower the odds of entrepreneurship.

Black Residential Segregation in the City and Suburbs of Detroit: Does Socioeconomic Status Matter?

According to ecological theory, the socioeconomic status of a minority group is inversely related to the group’s level of residential segregation from the majority group. This article determines whether the level of black socioeconomic status is related to the level of black residential segregation in the city of Detroit and Detroit’s suburbs. Data were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Census, 1990 Summary Tape Files 4-A. The methods employed to measure residential segregation were the indexes of dissimilarity D and isolation P*. Indexes were computed by census tract to measure segregation and isolation between blacks and whites at the same level of occupation, income, or education. The results revealed that residential segregation between blacks and whites remained high (i.e., above 50%) in both the city and the suburbs despite comparable socioeconomic status. Blacks in the suburbs were more segregated and isolated than blacks in the city at each socioeconomic level.

Hate Crimes in Deeply Divided Societies: The Case of Northern Ireland

Evidence of hate crime is easy to find in deeply divided societies. Yet a number of factors may mask or restrain the incidence of hate crime. The dynamic of a violent conflict, levels of residential segregation and the monopolization of violence by organized groups (paramilitaries) may all restrain levels of hate crime or make it less visible. This paper investigates this masking of hate crime in deeply divided societies with particular reference to Northern Ireland. It also argues that a complex motivational environment surrounds issues of violence, including hate crime, in deeply divided societies and that simplistic views of hate crime may not be helpful.

The Determinants of Hispanic Representation in Municipal Government

In recent years Voting Rights Act cases brought by Hispanic litigants challenging local election systems have proliferated. This article analyzes the effects of election systems and demographic factors on the electoral success of Hispanics in municipal elections. Ability to speak English well and educational attainment of non-Hispanics are important factors that boost Hispanic representation. On average district elections enhance Hispanic representation, though the impact of district elections varies directly with the level of residential segregation. Although some Blacks may support Hispanic candidates, I do not find any significant effects of increases in Black population on the electoral success of Hispanics.

The Determinants of Hispanic Representation in Municipal Government

In recent years Voting Rights Act cases brought by Hispanic litigants challenging local election systems have proliferated. This article analyzes the effects of election systems and demographic factors on the electoral success of Hispanics in municipal elections. Ability to speak English well and educational attainment of non‐Hispanics are important factors that boost Hispanic representation. On average district elections enhance Hispanic representation, though the impact of district elections varies directly with the level of residential segregation. Although some Blacks may support Hispanic candidates, I do not find any significant effects of increases in Black population on the electoral success of Hispanics.

Socioeconomic integration and spatial residential patterns of immigrant groups in Canada

It is often assumed that the level of residential segregation of ethnic and racial groups can be used as a measure of their socio-economic integration into a society. This paper using Canadian census data for the period 1981–1991 questions this assumption and goes to show that the trends in residential segregation need not parallel the trends in socio-economic integration. Socio-economic integration is measured by indices of dissimilarity in the occupational composition and residential segregation by indices of dissimilarity in the population distribution. The study shows that while residential segregation of ethnic groups has remained fairly constant during the decade, occupational segregation has declined significantly. It concludes that while residential segregation may persist due to voluntary or involuntary causes, minority groups have been occupationally mobile. Unlike the case of Blacks in the United States, the study concludes that public policy concerns that spatial segregation of an ethnic group will result in relative deprivation in terms of socio-economic integration may not always be valid in Canada.

Metropolitan governance, residential segregation, and mortality among African Americans.

This study tested the hypothesis that the degree to which local government is metropolitanized is associated with mortality rates for African Americans and with residential segregation, which has itself previously been shown to be positively associated with mortality among African Americans. One hundred fourteen US standard metropolitan statistical areas were examined. The primary dependent variable was the age-adjusted, race- and sex-specific all-cause mortality rate, averaged for 1990 and 1991. The 2 primary independent variables were residential segregation, as measured by the index of dissimilarity, and metropolitanization of government, as measured by the central city's elasticity score. Mortality rates for male and female African Americans were lower in metropolitan statistical areas with more metropolitanized local governments and lower levels of residential segregation. Mortality for male and female Whites was not associated in either direction with residential segregation. White male mortality showed no association with level of metropolitanization, but lower White female mortality rates were associated with less metropolitanization. This study suggests the need for further research into whether policy changes in areas not traditionally thought of as "health policy" areas can improve the health of urban minorities.

AN APPLICATION OF ASSIMILATION MODELS TO RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION

Extensive racial residential segregation continues to exist in American communities, and continuing segregation may be a factor that impedes community development efforts in many communities. In this paper, residential segregation is explored by using a model of assimilation processes. Hypotheses are tested by analyzing Census data on communities in the southwestern United States. The analyses revealed that residential segregation between Anglos and Blacks is greater than the extent of segregation between Anglos and Hispanics. Further, segregation is most extensive in communities where social class differences between minorities and Anglos is greatest. It was also found that residential segregation levels were most extensive in nonmetropolitan communities, in communities with larger minority populations, in older communities, and in larger communities. Suggestions for community development specialists are provided.

Latino, Asian, and black segregation in U.S. metropolitan areas: Are multiethnic metros different*

This study examines 1990 residential segregation levels and 1980-1990 changes in segregation for Latinos, Asians, and blacks in U.S. metropolitan areas. It also evaluates the effect of emerging multiethnic metropolitan area contexts for these segregation patterns. While black segregation levels are still well above those for Latinos and Asians, there is some trend toward convergence over the decade. More than half of the areas increased their Latino segregation levels over the 1980s, and almost three-fourths increased their Asian segregation levels. In contrast, black segregation levels decreased in 88% of metropolitan areas. Multiethnic metropolitan area context is shown to be important for internal segregation dynamics. Black segregation levels are lower, and were more likely to decline in multiethnic metropolitan areas and when other minority groups grew faster than blacks. Latino segregation was also more likely to decline in such areas, and declines in both Latino and Asian segregation were greater when other minority groups were growing. These findings point up the potential for greater mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity coresidence in the neighborhoods of multiethnic metropolitan areas.

Separate black and white infant mortality models: Differences in the importance of structural variables

In the United States, the disparity in black and white infant mortality persists despite reductions in overall infant mortality. In 1988, 23 of the 50 states had a black infant mortality rate that was more than twice as large as its white infant mortality rate. This study assesses whether state-level structural variables relate differentially to states' black and white infant mortality rates. With the state as the unit of analysis, separate black ( N = 34) and white ( N = 50) multivariate models of infant mortality were produced and compared. The structural variables accounted for 57.7% of the variance in states' black infant mortality rates and 35.2% of the variance in states' white infant mortality rates. Proportion black, percent with bachelor's degree or higher, percent below poverty, and the index of dissimilarity each made a unique contribution to the black infant mortality model. Percent with bachelor's degree or higher was the only measure that made a significant unique contribution to the white infant mortality model. Thus, although both black and white infant mortality rates were higher in states with smaller percentages of the population having a bachelor's degree or higher, black infant mortality rates were also higher in states where proportionately more black persons lived, where there were higher levels of residential segregation in the urban areas, and, contrary to what was expected, where smaller percentages of the population lived below the poverty level. This study supports the need for race-specific models of infant mortality.

Child survival in big cities: the disadvantages of migrants.

Data from 15 Demographic and Health Surveys are used to examine whether rural-urban migrants in developing countries experience higher child mortality after settling in towns and cities than do lifelong urban residents, and if so, what individual or household characteristics account for this. Findings indicate that children of female migrants from the countryside generally have much poorer survival chances than other urban children. This survival disadvantage is more pronounced in big cities than in smaller urban areas, among migrants who have lived in the city for many years than among recent migrants, and in urban Latin America than in urban North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Within big cities, higher child mortality among migrant women is clearly related to their concentration in low-quality housing, and in part to fertility patterns at early ages of children and mother's educational attainment at later ages. Excess child mortality among urban migrants may also result from factors associated with the migration process, that are outlined in this study but not included in the analysis. Evidence of moderately high levels of residential segregation of migrant women in big cities suggests that opportunities exist for urban health programs to direct interventions to this disadvantaged segment of city populations.

The Allocation of Black Workers into the Public Sector

Abstract This study examines the effects of individual and structural factors on the odds that a black worker will be employed in the public sector (federal or state-local government) rather than the private sector. The independent variables include human capital, gender, citizenship, and the structural features of the labor markets (metropolitan areas) in which these workers reside (percent black, residential segregation, geographic region). The study focuses on percent black and residential segregation, two variables which significantly influence discrimination, group power and the employment opportunities of black workers. Logistic regression shows that, controlling for other factors, the odds of black employment in the public sector are highest in metropolitan areas that have large black populations and relatively low levels of residential segregation. These findings indicate that the allocation of black workers into the public sector results from processes of both discrimination and group power. The ...