Close Together but Worlds Apart? Residential Integration and Interethnic Friendship in Houston

Abstract

Why—and under what conditions—is residential integration positively associated with interethnic friendships between adults in large, diverse metropolitan areas? Both macrostructural and contact theories predict such an association. Yet integrated neighborhoods sometimes resemble “worlds of strangers” (Lofland, 1973), in which much interaction involves fleeting contacts that may increase the salience of stereotypes. Some prior research suggests that a positive association between integration and interethnic friendship may obtain even under such less than ideal circumstances. By analyzing how the association between integration and friendship varies among Anglos, Blacks, and Latinos, this article offers a more nuanced perspective informed by group position theory. Net of selection bias and more intensive forms of intergroup contact, living in an integrated area is only positively associated with having interethnic friendships when integration provides exposure to groups that occupy privileged positions in the larger society's racial–ethnic hierarchy relative to a resident's own group.

Making a Place for Space: Spatial Thinking in Social Science

“…Britton’s (2011) research on neighborhoods in Houston shows that non-Hispanic whites who lived in more integrated neighborhoods actually had fewer black friends, except in the case that their black neighbors had high socioeconomic status. But blacks in more integrated neighborhoods had more white friends even controlling for their own social class and that of white neighbors.…”

Networking in the Shadow of the Law: Informal Access to Legal Expertise through Personal Network Ties

“…Tendencies toward homophily within networks reflect, in part, that relationships form most readily among individuals who have shared backgrounds, sentiments, and lifestyles (Laumann and Senter ; McPherson et al ). Even without like‐me preferences in the formation of social ties, racially and socioeconomically segregated contexts such as neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces make it difficult for diverse individuals to meet, form, and maintain close relationships (Britton ; De Souza Briggs ; Huckfeldt ; Kossinets and Watts ). Consistent with theories of network formation and homophily, there is evidence that individuals with lower socioeconomic status are less likely to have professionals or experts among their close confidants (York Cornwell and Cornwell ).…”

The Spatial and Social Network Dimensions of Mobile Communication

“…In societies that reward individuals differentially according to income, prestige, and power, stratification systems result in the varying ability of individuals to gain access to residential locations (Massey, 2007;Semyonov & Glikman, 2009). Spatial segregation implies that the association choices available to minorities are limited to the ones that exist in their residential locations (Britton, 2011;Massey, 2007). According to the diversification hypothesis (Mesch, 2007(Mesch, , 2012, ICT provide a platform for overcoming the limited opportunities for inter-ethnic interaction that result from residential segregation.…”