Reconsidering Race, Class, and Residential Segregation in American Cities

Abstract

Scholars have often discounted social class as a substantial contributor to residential segregation by race, in part as a result of using the dissimilarity index, which is likely to show high levels of uneven group distribution regardless of socioeconomic status (SES), and in part as a result of using limited categories of SES. This study expands on prior research by examining residential segregation between black-alone and white-alone households in 36 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with 2000 decennial census data, using both spatial unevenness (dissimilarity) and two types of experiential indicators (exposure indices), measuring SES across income levels and accounting for the presence of other races. Findings show that black households with higher incomes live in neighborhoods with greater exposure and lower isolation than do black households with lower incomes. Additionally, while the dissimilarity of black households decreases with income, unevenness is not as strongly connected to income as are the experiential measures. While race remains a primary determinant of residential segregation, results indicate substantial class differences. [

A Statistical Approach for Analyzing Residential Isolation and its Determinants for Immigrant Communities: an Application to the Montréal Metropolitan Region

“…Although common spatial segregation indicators provide detailed geographical descriptions of residential locations of the studied groups, they do not assess the individual determinants of segregated living and how individual characteristics of the immigrants affect their residential behavior (Spivak et al 2011). As such, the segregation level might be considered low for animmigrant community as a whole, while one of its subpopulations is highly isolated.…”

“…Overall, using descriptive segregation indicators could lead to confound social trends as racial phenomenons. A descriptive approach trying to account for a variable such as socioeconomic status require the calculation of index for every category and for all studied groups (Spivak et al 2011;Apparicio et al 2006). This approach, however, become very complex when it comes to plenty of variables, particularly when there are interactions between them, such as income, education and year of immigration.…”

Regional Differences in Affluent Black and Affluent White Residential Outcomes

“…For example, prior research demonstrates that lower income blacks are more segregated from whites than are higher income blacks, but the difference is modest (Iceland, Sharpe, and Steinmetz ; Iceland and Wilkes ; Spivak, Bass, and John ; Spivak and Monnat ). Using the Index of Dissimilarity, Andrew Spivak and colleagues found that affluent black households, those having incomes of $100,000 or more, experienced high levels of segregation from white households of all income levels (2013).…”

“…Researchers commonly present two theories to explain neighborhood attainment: spatial assimilation and place stratification. Spatial assimilation theory argues that as the income, education, language, and other indicators of acculturation and socioeconomic status (SES) of a minority group increases and becomes similar to that of the majority group, there will be greater residential integration and less segregation between each group (Massey and Denton ; Alba and Logan ; Spivak, Bass, and John ; Friedman, Gibbons, and Galvan ). In essence, minority groups can translate their gains in SES to “purchase or buy into” an improved spatial position (for example, suburban neighborhoods) providing them access to better opportunities and services (Spivak, Bass, and John ).…”

“…Spatial assimilation theory argues that as the income, education, language, and other indicators of acculturation and socioeconomic status (SES) of a minority group increases and becomes similar to that of the majority group, there will be greater residential integration and less segregation between each group (Massey and Denton ; Alba and Logan ; Spivak, Bass, and John ; Friedman, Gibbons, and Galvan ). In essence, minority groups can translate their gains in SES to “purchase or buy into” an improved spatial position (for example, suburban neighborhoods) providing them access to better opportunities and services (Spivak, Bass, and John ). Prior research demonstrates that the model of spatial assimilation works well to describe the residential outcomes of European and Asian immigrants, but does not accurately depict the residential experience of blacks in the U.S. (Alba and Logan ; Freeman ; Iceland and Wilkes ).…”