The Impact of Hispanic Growth on the Racial/Ethnic Composition of New York City Neighborhoods

Abstract

Between 1970 and 1990, a surging Hispanic population succeeded whites across New York City, resulting in major increases in both all-minority and multiethnic neighborhoods. Puerto Rican and Dominican flows resulted in transitions to all-minority neighborhoods, whereas South Americans showed a more integrated pattern of settlement. The unique settlement patterns of Hispanic subgroups need to be understood in the context of larger political, social, and economic forces operating in the city. In the post-1990 period, newer Hispanic groups have begun to succeed Puerto Ricans. Thus, earlier patterns of white to Hispanic transitions now have been supplemented by ethnic succession among Hispanics.The ebb and flow of migrants, both domestic and international, have for centuries shaped and reshaped the character of New York City. From its earliest days when the Dutch and English struggled for political and economic control, through the nineteenth century when new groups such as Germans and the Irish settled in great numbers, and up through the early twentieth century with the arrival of southern and eastern Europeans, the city has always been an ever-evolving mix of ethnic groups (Binder and Reimers 1995).

Sociological Theories of Low-Wage Work

“…Until recently, assimilation theorists have viewed low-wage work as a temporary phenomenon that will be overcome by future generations as in the case with White ethnic immigrants (Lobo, Flores, & Salvo, 2002;White, 1984). However, the tie between cultural and structural assimilation has been broken as Latino immigrants are taking much longer to culturally assimilate than was needed by previous (White, 1984) immigrants, and the delayed cultural assimilation, when achieved, has not led to structural assimilation.…”

Anthropological Theories of Low-Wage Work

“…White believes that this merging of economic status can come from either the prior or new residents moving up or down the economic scale, as long as they are merging to a middle ground. Lobo, Flores, and Salvo (2002) refer to this type of ethnic succession as "invasion succession"; however, they believe that, generally, the new residents are moving up in socioeconomic status rather than the previous residents moving down. This type of ethnic succession can take place in many forms, including Whites being succeeded by African Americans (White, 1984), Whites being succeeded by Hispanics, or different Hispanic groups succeeding one another, such as Puerto Ricans succeeding South American Hispanics, in a neighborhood (Lobo et al, 2002).…”

Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Data Processing in Demography: a Review

“…Examples of sociodemographic and economic geography studies using the reaggregation approach include Coulson and Leichenko (2004), Lobo et al (2002), Reibel (2000), Clark (1996), Alba et al (1995), Denton and Massey (1991), Lee and Wood (1991), Massey and Mullen (1984), and Massey (1983). While most investigators using reaggregation go to considerable lengths to reconcile tract boundary discrepancies, some simply omit from their analyses local areas in which census tract boundaries differ significantly between the two zone systems (Freeman and Rohe 2000;Lee 1985).…”