Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:32:50.957Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Race and Residence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Susan Welch
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Lee Sigelman
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
Timothy Bledsoe
Affiliation:
George Washington University, Washington DC
Michael Combs
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Get access

Summary

Residential segregation in the United States has proved resilient to change. Residential segregation has been and continues to be the “structural linchpin” of American race relations (Bobo, 1989: 307). This is in striking contrast to the progress that has been made in narrowing the racial divide in public accommodations, the workplace, universities, and the armed forces. The movement toward racially integrated housing has resisted the broader societal sweep of integration, and the residential separation of blacks and whites remains a huge impediment to progress toward racial equality (Farley, Bianchi, and Colasanto, 1978a: 98).

After increasing steadily for most of the 20th century, however, housing segregation finally began to diminish during the 1980s and 1990s (Massey and Denton, 1987; Farley and Frey, 1994; Massey, 2000, see also Taeuber and Taeuber, 1965). During those years, most American metropolitan areas became less racially segregated within the borders of the central city, and many experienced an exodus of African Americans to the suburbs. Indeed, this movement of blacks to the suburbs was a major reason for the small decrease in residential segregation (Schneider and Phelan, 1993).

Although demographers have tracked these migratory patterns (Farley and Frey, 1994; Massey and Denton, 1993, O'Hare and Usdansky, 1992), little is known about the impact of such movement on the way blacks and whites think about themselves and one another. Does it matter whether blacks and whites live in mixed neighborhoods or in relatively integrated cities?

Type
Chapter
Information
Race and Place
Race Relations in an American City
, pp. 1 - 18
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Susan Welch, Pennsylvania State University, Lee Sigelman, Wayne State University, Timothy Bledsoe, George Washington University, Washington DC, Michael Combs, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  • Book: Race and Place
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511814037.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Susan Welch, Pennsylvania State University, Lee Sigelman, Wayne State University, Timothy Bledsoe, George Washington University, Washington DC, Michael Combs, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  • Book: Race and Place
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511814037.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Susan Welch, Pennsylvania State University, Lee Sigelman, Wayne State University, Timothy Bledsoe, George Washington University, Washington DC, Michael Combs, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  • Book: Race and Place
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511814037.002
Available formats
×