Abstract
Significant levels of separation between blacks and whites still exist in large American cities, and debate about the causes of that residential separation has been considerable. A balanced analysis of the factors that might explain residential segregation - economic status (affordability), social preferences, urban structure, and discrimination - suggests that no one factor can account for the patterns that have arisen in U.S. metropolitan areas. Empirical estimation of the impact of economic status suggests that 30–70 percent of racial separation is attributable to economic factors. However, economic factors do not act alone, but in association explanatory weight for present residential patterns. Survey evidence from both national and local studies shows that black households prefer neighborhoods that are half black and half white, while whites prefer neighborhoods ranging from 0 to 30 percent black.
The debate about causes seems most polarized over the role of discrimination. Although comments in the literature often focus on the past use of racially restrictive covenants by state-regulated agencies and discriminatory acts by realtors and financial institutions, the documented individual cases of discrimination do not appear to be part of a massive collusion to deny housing opportunities to minorities. A review of the evidence from social science investigations demonstrates that there are multiple causes of racial residential separation in U.S. metropolitan areas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Armor, D.J. (1984). ‘Analysis of desegregation remedies for Pulaski County school districts’, Defendants' Exhibit 43.
Atkinson, R. and Phipps, A. (1977). ‘Housing allowance demand experiment, locational choice II: neighborhood change’, Cambridge, Mass.: Abt Assoc.
Becker, G.S. (1957). The Economics of Discrimination, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Berry, B.J.L. (1979). The Open Housing Question: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1966–76. Cambridge Mass.: Ballinger.
Birnbaum, H. and Wetson, R. (1974). ‘Homeownership and the wealth position of black and white Americans’, Reviews of Income and Wealth 20: 103–119.
Clark, W.A.V. (1980). ‘Residential mobility and neighborhood change: some implications for racial residential segregation’, Urban Geography 1: 95–117.
Clark, W.A.V. and Onaka, J. (1983). ‘A review and interpretation of reasons for moving’, Urban Studies 20: 47–58.
Clay, P.L. (1979). ‘The process of black suburbanization’, Urban Affairs Quarterly 14: 405–424.
Coleman, J.S., Kelly F.D. and Moore, J.A. (1975). Trends in School Segregation, 1968–73. Washington, D.C., The Urban Institute Paper UI722-03-91.
Courant, P. and Yinger, J. (1977). ‘On models of racial prejudice and urban residential structure’, Journal of Urban Economics 4: 272–291.
Cronin, F.J. (1982). ‘Racial differences in the search for housing’. In W.A.V. Clark (ed.), Modelling Housing Market Search, London: Croom Helm.
Duncan, O.D. and B. Duncan (1955). ‘A methodological analysis of segregation indexes’, American Sociological Review 20: 210–217.
Farley, R. (1977). ‘Residential segregation in urbanized areas of the United States in 1970: an analysis of social class and racial differences’, Demography 14: 497–518.
Farley, R. (1984). Blacks and Whites: Narrowing the Gap? Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Farley, R. et al. (1978). ‘Chocolate city, vanilla suburbs. Will the trend toward racially separate communities continue?’ Social Science Research 7: 319–344.
Fischer, C.S. et al. (1977). Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting. New York: The Free Press.
Frey, W.H. (1978). ‘Black movement to the suburbs: potentials and prospects for metropolitan-wide integration’, in F.D. Bean and W.P. Frisbie, The Demography of Racial and Ethnic Groups, Press, New York: Academic Press.
Frey, W.H. (1979). ‘Central city white flight: racial and nonracial causes’, American Sociological Review 44: 425–448.
Frey, W.H. (1983). ‘Life course migration of metropolitan whites and blacks and the structure of demographic change in large central cities’, Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan, Population Studies Center, Research Report Number 83–47.
Frey, W.H. (1985). ‘Mover destination selectivity and the changing suburbanization of metropolitan whites and blacks’, Demography 22: 223–243.
Goodman, J.L. (1978). Urban Residential Mobility: Places, People, and Policy, Washington, D.C., The Urban Institute.
Goodman, J.L. and Streitweiser, M.L. (1982). Explaining racial differences in city to suburb residential mobility, Washington, D.C., The Urban Institute, Working Paper 1384–09.
Grebler, L. and F.G. Mittelbach (1979). The Inflation of House Prices. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath and Company.
Hermalin, A. and Farley, R. (1973). ‘The potential for residential intervention in cities and suburbs: implications for the busing controversy’, American Sociological Review 38: 595–610.
Holshouser, W. (1976). Supportive Services in a Housing Allowance Program, Volume 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Abt Associates.
Huff, J.O. (1982). ‘Spatial aspects of residential search’, in W.A.V. Clark, (ed.), Modelling Housing Market Search, London: Croom Helm.
Jakubs, J. (1981). ‘A distance based segregation index’. Journal of Socioeconomic Planning Sciences 15: 129–141.
Jenkins v. State of Missouri (1984). No. 77-420-CV-W Transcript of Proceedings.
Kain, J. and Quigley, J. (1975). Housing Markets and Racial Discrimination: a Micro Economic Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lake, R.W. (1981). The New Suburbanites: Race and Housing in the Suburbs. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research.
Leven, C., et al (1976). Neighborhood Change: Lessons in the Dynamics of Urban Decay. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.
Liddell and the United States v. School Board of the City of St. Louis (E.D. Mo) Civil Action No. 72-100-C (4).
Lieberson, S. and Carter, D.K. (1982). ‘Temporal changes and urban differences in residential segregation: a reconsideration’, American Journal of Sociology A8: 296–310.
Listokin, D. and Casey, S. (1980). Mortgage Lending and Race. New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy and Research.
Milliken v Bradley (1974). United States Reports 418: 717–815.
Morrison, P. (1978). Overview of demographic trends shaping the nation's future. Rand Paper Series, P-6128, Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corporation.
Muth, R. (1969). Studies in Housing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nelson, K. (1979). ‘Recent Suburbanization of Blacks: How Much, Who and Where?’ U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development Research, Washington, D.C.
Orfield, G. (1981a). ‘Toward a strategy for urban integration: lessons in school and housing policy from twelve cities’, A report to the Ford Foundation.
Orfield, G. (1981b). The housing issues in the St. Louis case, a report to Judge William L. Hungate, U.S. District Court, St. Louis, Missouri.
Pascal, A. (1967). The Economics of Housing Segregation. Santa Monica, CA: RM-5510-RC, The Rand Corporation.
Pascal, A. (1978). Armour v. Nix, U.S. District Court, Northern district of Georgia, Atlanta Division, Civil Action 16708, Transcript of Proceedings, Defendants' Exhibit #18.
Pettigrew, T. (1973). Attitudes on race and housing, In: A. Hawley and V. Rock, (ed.) Segregation of Residential Areas, Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.
Roistacher, E.A. and Goodman, J.L. (1976). ‘Race and homeownership: is discrimination disappearing?’ Economic Inquiry 14: 59–70.
Rose, H. (1976). Black Suburbanization. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.
Rossi, P. (1955). Why Families Move. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press.
Schelling, T. (1971). ‘The ecology of micromotives’, The Public Interest 2: 61–69.
Schelling, T. (1978). Micromotives and Macrobehavior, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Schnare, A.B. (1977). ‘Residential Segregation by Race in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: An Analysis Across Cities and Over Time’. Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute.
Schnare, A.B. (1978). The Persistence of Racial Segregation and Housing. Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute.
Smith, B. (1982). ‘Racial composition as a neighborhood amenity’, in D. Diamond and G. Tolley (eds.), The Economics of Urban Amenities. New York: Academic Press.
Smith, J.P. and F. Welch (1986). Closing the Gap: Forty Years of Economic Progress for Blacks. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.
Spain, D. (1979). ‘Reasons for intrametropolitan mobility: are schools a key issue?’ Annual Meeting Population Association of America, Philadelphia, PA.
Spain, D. and Long, L.H. (1981). ‘Black Movers to the Suburbs: Are They Moving to Predominantly White Neighborhoods?’ Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Special Demographic Analysis, CDS-80–4.
Speare, A., S. Goldstein, and W. Frey (1975). Residential Mobility, Migration, and Metropolitan Change. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger.
Streitweiser, M.L. and Goodman, J.L. (1983). ‘A survey of recent research on race and residential location’, Population Research and Policy Review 2: 253–283.
Taeuber, K.E. (1975). ‘Demographic perspectives on housing and school segregation’, Wayne Law Review 21: 833–850.
Taeuber, K.E., Monfort, F.W. and Massey, P.A. (1984). ‘The trend in metropolitan racial residential segregation’, Paper read to the Population Association of America.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1975). Historical Statistics of the U.S., Colonial Times to 1970. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1982). Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1982–83, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census(1980). Census of Population and Housing, Census Tracts.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1982). Annual Housing Surveys: Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (1978). Consumer Expenditure Survey Series 1972/73, Bulletin 1985, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C.
Van Valey, T.L., Roof, W.C. and Wilcox, J.E. (1977). ‘Trends in residential segregation 1960s and 1970s’, American Journal of Sociology 82: 826–844.
Wienk, R.E., et al. (1979). ‘Measuring racial discrimination in American housing markets: the housing market practices survey’, Washington, D.C.: The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Division Evaluation, Office of Policy Development and Research.
Wilson, W.J. (1978). ‘The declining significance of race’. Society 15 (5): 11–21.
Winship, C. (1978). ‘The desirability of using the index of dissimilarity or any adjustment of it for measuring segregation: reply to Falk, Cortese, and Cohen’, Social Forces 57: 717–720.
Yinger, J. (1976). ‘Racial prejudice and racial residential segregation in an urban model’, Journal of Urban Economics 3: 383–406.
Yinger, J. (1978). ‘The black-white price differential in housing: some further evidence’, Land Economics 54: 185–206.
Zelder, R.E. (1977). ‘On the measurement of residential segregation: reply’, Journal of Regional Science 17: 299–303.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An earlier version of this paper was presented to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C., November 12, 1985.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Clark, W.A.V. Residential segregation in American cities: a review and interpretation. Popul Res Policy Rev 5, 95–127 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137176
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137176