Segregation. Eric Fong

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What Is Segregation?

      The primary purpose of this chapter is to introduce the concept of segregation, discuss classical and contemporary perspectives on it, and review the major theories scholars use to understand its causes and consequences. Segregation refers to the differential distribution and interaction of social groups in a social structure (Massey 2001). Differential distribution can occur across different geographic scales, such as neighborhoods, schools, and communities. Differential interaction of social groups can be observed in different forms of social interaction, including everyday interactions such as choosing a daycare center where parents tend to come from a similar background; peer group and friendship choices in school; and choosing partners for marriage. The spatial mismatch between groups in residential environments and other settings contributes to a lack of social contact. The segregation of different ethno-racial, linguistic, and immigration groups has received significant attention from scholars because of its relevance to social stratification and the life chances of individuals.

Since the beginning of the last century, segregation has been part of the study of the urban form and social relations of individuals and groups in the city. Early insights into segregation came from the human ecological perspective. As Engel-Frisch articulated, human ecology asks the question, “How do aggregates of individuals adapt to a common environment?” (1943: 43). From the perspective of human ecology, our living environment has limited resources, and groups often compete, and sometimes cooperate, for their share of them. These limited resources include desirable locations for housing, business, and recreation, as well as access to safe and defensible spaces to nurture community, worship freely, and grow families.

      The human ecology perspective hypothesizes that natural processes such as competition, invasion-succession (i.e. a number of households from one group move in and occupy and dominate a neighborhood which was previously occupied by another group), cooperation (i.e. groups support each other), and other adaptations shape the distribution of resources between groups. One of the main outcomes of these processes is to “sort” groups by socioeconomic and demographic factors into distinct neighborhoods and social environments. Over time, the ethno-racial composition of neighborhoods may “shift” due to these processes. This sorting and shifting of people into different neighborhoods is based on the assumption that some groups have more resources and are more capable of converting their resources into better neighborhood qualities. For example, the political and economic clout, as well as size, of some groups aids their efforts to retain control over the most desirable resources, leaving groups with fewer resources to occupy less desirable areas. The organization of the city that results from these processes creates patterns of interaction and segregation. Residential patterns characterized by physical and social distance between groups are often the outcomes of this social organization of the city.

Causes of Segregation

Why does segregation exist? Perhaps the simplest and most common explanation is homophily. Like the adage “birds of a feather stick together,” the principle of homophily suggests that people prefer to be with people like themselves. This desire may come from deep-rooted feelings that safety, compatibility, reciprocity, attraction, and shared culture are more likely to be found in people who share a common background. Although scholars who study segregation most often focus on ethno-racial segregation, homophily may draw people together due to a variety of common characteristics (e.g. race/ethnicity, language, religion, age, income, family type). Proponents of homophily argue that it is natural to prefer to live in a community with neighbors who have a similar economic, social, and demographic background. These preferences determine those with whom residents share neighborhoods and other social environments (Dietz and Rosa 1994).

Another result of homophily is that voluntary choices made to create and maintain an “in-group” often also include exclusionary behaviors involuntarily imposed on an “out-group.” Thus, segregation is a product of both voluntary and involuntary factors. For example, one group’s desire to stay homogeneous within an environment may lead to exclusionary practices that are unfair, unkind, and even unlawful. Exclusionary practices can take place through individual behavior, or by entities that act in one group’s interests against another. As mentioned in Chapter 1, an example of the latter is the former exclusionary practice by the US Federal Housing Administration (FHA) of refusing to insure mortgage loans to homebuyers in or near African American neighborhoods (Rothstein 2017). The FHA sought to minimize the risk of default on home mortgages through the practice of “redlining,” which classified neighborhoods into zones and denied loans to people in the riskiest “red” (or sometimes “pink”) zones: usually older neighborhoods in the city with a high concentration of African Americans. This exclusionary practice fortified black–white segregation and the urban–suburban divide.

      The status and power differences between groups mean that these processes of inclusion and exclusion often occur in ways that generate and maintain social stratification in society. The greater the status, cultural, and linguistic differences of groups, then the greater the potential protective effect of voluntary segregation, and the greater the potential harm of involuntary segregation.

      Voluntary segregation suggests that members of a group, such as ethnic or immigrant minorities, make a conscious decision to live with their own group. For example, sharing a language, cultural understandings, and an ethnic economy can be a protective lifeline for new immigrants. The preferences that shape voluntary segregation have an important overall effect of segregation for all groups. Schelling (1971) found that people have different preferences for the extent to which they are willing to share neighborhoods with other groups, and a change in racial composition may trigger those who are less tolerant of other groups to move out. Thus, individual preference for racial composition can result in substantial segregation of groups (Clark 1992).

Segregation where a group is involuntarily excluded from neighborhoods has also drawn considerable attention because it contributes to important social issues of inequality and discrimination. A variety of factors can create involuntary segregation, including constrained choice due to discrimination, prejudice, or other variables that limit access, such as income. Furthermore, sometimes the exclusion is explicit and overt (e.g. redlining) and other times it is implicit and covert (e.g. making people feel unwelcome through a cold reception). However, as Lieberson and Carter (1982) pointed out, a clear distinction between voluntary and involuntary segregation is often not made in the research literature. A group may experience discrimination from other groups in certain neighborhoods and thereafter prefer to stay elsewhere with their own group. Sometimes both forces operate at the СКАЧАТЬ