Racial and Ethnic Integration in U.S. Metropolitan Neighborhoods: Patterns, Complexities, and Consequences

Author: Diana L. Karafin

Dissertation School: The Ohio State University

Pages: 185

Publication Date: July 2009

Availability:
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Abstract:

In my dissertation, I problematize the current framing and understanding of U.S. racial and ethnic neighborhood integration in an increasingly heterogeneous society. Research questions and analyses are shaped by contemporary race theories, which emphasize how societal systems, structures, and racial ideologies condition institutions, outcomes, and a shifting U.S. racial order (Bonilla-Silva 2004; Omi and Winant 1994). I examine the often implied, yet rarely empirically validated, proposal that long-term racial and ethnic neighborhood integration is a primary remedy for the inequities and deleterious consequences associated with racial residential segregation. I construct a descriptive and analytical national portrait of the patterns and socioeconomic consequences of metropolitan neighborhood integration between 1980 and 2000. I extend existing research by illuminating national patterns that account for Latinos as well as Black and Whites, and by directly comparing neighborhood and group-level socioeconomic advantage/disadvantage for a range of integrated and homogeneous neighborhood types. Most importantly, I explicitly examine whether Black and Latinos residing in durable integrated contexts appear to be significantly more advantaged than those situated in long-term, predominantly minority communities.

Using data for neighborhoods embedded within metropolitan context from the Neighborhood Change Database I first assess descriptive patterns of the frequency and durability of integration in metropolitan neighborhoods over two decades. I employ a racial/ethnic neighborhood integration typology which more fully incorporated differential combinations of Latinos, Black, Whites, and Others in neighborhoods than heretofore employed. I find vast differentiation in the frequency, stability, and paths of change among various types of integrated and homogeneous contexts. White, Black and Latino neighborhoods remained the norm across the two decades though the share of two-group neighborhoods increased from 17.3 percent to 29.2 percent (in particular, White-Black, White-Latino, and Latino-Black neighborhoods). Regarding the question of stability, White, Black, and Latino neighborhoods were significantly more stable than the integrated areas. These patterns were further characterized by the concentration of Whites in White neighborhoods across the two decades, and substantial flux in the population composition of all neighborhood types.

I then use hierarchical multinomial models to evaluate the relationship between neighborhood advantage/disadvantage and the odds a neighborhood remained integrated or became integrated. The results demonstrate that, net of various metropolitan and neighborhood population and housing characteristics the most advantaged integrated contexts were the least stable and the most likely to transition to all White contexts. In contrast, the most disadvantaged integrated contexts were the most stable, with those that do change being more likely to transition to predominantly Black or Latino contexts. When examining the odds a homogeneous neighborhood in 1980 became integrated in 2000, the results indicated that more disadvantaged neighborhoods were significantly more likely to become integrated than less disadvantaged communities.

The final portion of the research asks whether long-term integrated areas, and the group-members in them, are significantly more advantaged compared to homogeneous and transitioning contexts (and their group members). The central finding is that while racially stable White-Black areas were significantly less disadvantaged than racially stable Black areas, the average level of Black advantage in stable While-Black neighborhoods was significantly less than the average level for those in long-term Black neighborhoods. In contrast, Latinos had higher levels of advantage in racially stable White-Latino neighborhoods compared to those in stable majority Latino neighborhoods (and stable White Latino contexts as a whole had less disadvantaged than long-term Latino communities). Overall, my results underscore the problematic nature of making a single generalization of stable racial and ethnic integration as a "success story." Situating my findings within the broad urban stratification and race theory literature, I discuss the theoretical implications of my findings for understanding the shifting U.S. racial order and inequality across the residential landscape.

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