Residential Segregation
Encyclopedia
Residential segregation is the physical separation of cultural groups based on residence and housing, or a form of segregation
that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level."
While it has traditionally been associated with racial segregation, the name refers to any kind of sorting of populations based on some criteria, and need not be enforced from the top down.
. This statistic shows how many people of one ethnicity or race would have to move out of an area in order to make the area match the ethnic composition of the entire urban area.
Metropolitan cities in the United States are extremely segregated along racial lines. Surveys in 1990 discovered that 69.4% of people would need to move for racial residential equity to be achieved.
The most obvious case of residential sorting is when a dominant/majority group (generally whites) imposing segregation on a subordinate/minority group (in case of the U.S., the paradigmatic example would be policies aimed towards African-Americans). It is still the case that “blacks traditionally experience severe prejudice
and discrimination
in urban housing markets” and they “tend to live in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods.” Moreover, this ongoing segregation has long-term effects on African-American families and their ability to buy and sell homes, due to the red-lining of those districts described below.
More broadly, there is support for the suggestion that residential sorting diminishes trust between different ethnic groups in a society, as the sorting ensures that members of the different groups will interact less over time, which makes members of those groups less likely to be sympathetic towards members of other groups. This makes it easier for members of all groups to stereotype other groups, and thus allows for the creation of a stronger distinction between the us and a them. Uslaner argues that this type of sorting has been occurring in the United States for quite some time, although he points out that the sorting is happening more by political preference and socio-economic status than by ethnic background, and his suggestion is that this may well, over time, destabilize democratic life.
are the most segregated among U.S. Latinos and the second most segregated group in the United States, after African Americans. Asians are the least segregated from Whites. Hispanic residential segregation has been increasing since 1980 whereas residential segregation for Blacks has been decreasing.
, or the “denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of society.” The collaboration between institutional discrimination and residential segregation has inadvertently created a dual housing market which is widely acknowledged, supported by a sizable literature. This dual housing market is one “segregated by race, where African Americans suffer limited housing selections as a result of institutional and overt discrimination.” Many factors are involved in the phenomenon of residential discrimination. For instance, a preponderance of evidence suggests that majority black neighborhoods typically experience higher crime rates, lower home values, and a general diminished quality of life. Due to an assortment of practices, such as real estate agents exercising overt discrimination and lending institutions performing institutional discrimination, the dual housing market that disadvantages African-Americans is maintained, perpetuated, and often augmented at the expense of equal treatment for the minority group.
, as institutional discrimination
, can be summed up as “the pattern of discrimination against people trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods.” As a practice, however, redlining can be revealed in several different ways which all legally segregate whites from African Americans and other ethnic and minority groups.
Redlining originally comes from loaners actually marking certain neighborhoods red on “appraisal maps,” meaning these neighborhoods were ineligible because there were too many black families living there already. In this example, redlining was simply a term to refer to the practice of discrimination in mortgage lending. Furthermore, redlining was utilized by banks where they procedurally “code…neighborhoods ‘red’—the lowest possible rating—on their loan evaluations, thereby making it next to impossible to get a mortgage for a home” in districts where real estate agents wanted to maintain the racial make-up of white communities. Lastly, by using redlining, banks and mortgage
lenders do not make loans available to minority
and ethnic group
s. Inevitably, there is a decline in the frequency of loans and the amount of loan money made available to minorities; less encouragement of accepting minority loan applications and “marketing policies that exclude such minority areas.” Elevated mortgage costs and less desirable terms on loans result from the weakening competition in the mortgage market, along with a reduction in finance options for purchasing homes for borrowers in minority neighborhoods.
. This is an occurrence "in which agents do not disclose properties on the market to qualified African-American home seekers" and steer them to neighborhoods that have a similar racial make-up as the home seeker. They are especially steered away from predominantly white communities.
is the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighbor hoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities. White flight may increase residential segregation in medium-income housing.
or urban renewal
is another form of residential segregation. Gentrification has historically been defined as higher income newcomers displacing lower income residents from up-and-coming urban neighborhoods. The concept has been understood as reflecting the residential turnover of an area that was predominantly composed of residents of color, to one populated by higher income whites. Yet definitions of gentrification fail to mention this racial component. Critical race theory is used to examine race as an implicit assumption that merits investigation as demographic changes in the U.S. challenge these class-based definitions.
(commonly known as the Fair Housing Act) housing discrimination is technically illegal. In 1978 the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed in order to make it illegal for creditors to discriminate against anyone based on race, color, national origin, sex, marital status, or age. First Yinger argues for enforcing existing to stop racial steering and discriminatory lending practices that keep minorities from getting mortgages in certain areas. More ardently enforcing the laws set in place by this federal act would to decrease residential segregation.
Second, Yinger advocates supporting neighborhoods that want to encourage more diversity so as to become multiethnic neighborhoods. Such neighborhoods can actively involve either a private or public organization to provide housing information to people of differing races, provide and encourage opportunities for intergroup contact, and mediate any intergroup differences. Such strategies have been shown to foster integration.
Finally, Yinger shows how household-based subsidies give vouchers to households for the difference of their rent and some pre-determined percentage of their income cane make housing in less segregated areas more affordable for families. Examples of this are the The Gautreaux Project and the Moving to Opportunity
for Fair Housing initiative.
Another strategy is to transform segregated neighborhoods of concentrated poverty is to build Mixed Income Housing, that include rental and home ownership units, and are available to people across the income spectrum. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides grants to localities to build mixed income housing through its HOPE VI
program, which aims to eradicate distressed public housing by improving physical conditions, management of public and subsidized housing, and social and community services for diverse residents. Many assert that mixed income housing helps improve the life chances of lower income residents through four main avenues: social network building, informal social control, role-modeling, and access to better services; new research, has found that increased social control and access to better services are the most robust ways that mixed income housing supports moving people out of poverty through this tool of desegregation.
Another method for reducing residential discrimination is to give more education to minority groups about the housing market and where discrimination is likely to occur.
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level."
While it has traditionally been associated with racial segregation, the name refers to any kind of sorting of populations based on some criteria, and need not be enforced from the top down.
Residential segregation in the United States
Residential Segregation is measured with the Index of dissimilarityIndex of dissimilarity
The index of dissimilarity is a demographic measure of the evenness with which two groups are distributed across the component geographic areas that make up a larger area...
. This statistic shows how many people of one ethnicity or race would have to move out of an area in order to make the area match the ethnic composition of the entire urban area.
Metropolitan cities in the United States are extremely segregated along racial lines. Surveys in 1990 discovered that 69.4% of people would need to move for racial residential equity to be achieved.
The most obvious case of residential sorting is when a dominant/majority group (generally whites) imposing segregation on a subordinate/minority group (in case of the U.S., the paradigmatic example would be policies aimed towards African-Americans). It is still the case that “blacks traditionally experience severe prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
in urban housing markets” and they “tend to live in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods.” Moreover, this ongoing segregation has long-term effects on African-American families and their ability to buy and sell homes, due to the red-lining of those districts described below.
More broadly, there is support for the suggestion that residential sorting diminishes trust between different ethnic groups in a society, as the sorting ensures that members of the different groups will interact less over time, which makes members of those groups less likely to be sympathetic towards members of other groups. This makes it easier for members of all groups to stereotype other groups, and thus allows for the creation of a stronger distinction between the us and a them. Uslaner argues that this type of sorting has been occurring in the United States for quite some time, although he points out that the sorting is happening more by political preference and socio-economic status than by ethnic background, and his suggestion is that this may well, over time, destabilize democratic life.
Recent trends in residential segregation
While African Americans are the most hypersegregated population in the United States, Puerto RicansPuerto Ricans in the United States
Stateside Puerto Ricans are American citizens of Puerto Rican origin, including those who migrated from Puerto Rico to the United States and those who were born outside of Puerto Rico in the United States...
are the most segregated among U.S. Latinos and the second most segregated group in the United States, after African Americans. Asians are the least segregated from Whites. Hispanic residential segregation has been increasing since 1980 whereas residential segregation for Blacks has been decreasing.
Why residential segregation?
Residential segregation can result from what is known as institutional discriminationInstitutionalized discrimination
Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of an individual embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations such as the governments and corporations, financial institutions , public institutions , and other larger...
, or the “denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of society.” The collaboration between institutional discrimination and residential segregation has inadvertently created a dual housing market which is widely acknowledged, supported by a sizable literature. This dual housing market is one “segregated by race, where African Americans suffer limited housing selections as a result of institutional and overt discrimination.” Many factors are involved in the phenomenon of residential discrimination. For instance, a preponderance of evidence suggests that majority black neighborhoods typically experience higher crime rates, lower home values, and a general diminished quality of life. Due to an assortment of practices, such as real estate agents exercising overt discrimination and lending institutions performing institutional discrimination, the dual housing market that disadvantages African-Americans is maintained, perpetuated, and often augmented at the expense of equal treatment for the minority group.
Intertwined modes of discrimination
Residential segregation which tends to advantage whites at the expense of racial minorities in the U.S. is manifested in several intertwined modes of discrimination.Redlining
RedliningRedlining
Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
, as institutional discrimination
Institutionalized discrimination
Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of an individual embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations such as the governments and corporations, financial institutions , public institutions , and other larger...
, can be summed up as “the pattern of discrimination against people trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods.” As a practice, however, redlining can be revealed in several different ways which all legally segregate whites from African Americans and other ethnic and minority groups.
Redlining originally comes from loaners actually marking certain neighborhoods red on “appraisal maps,” meaning these neighborhoods were ineligible because there were too many black families living there already. In this example, redlining was simply a term to refer to the practice of discrimination in mortgage lending. Furthermore, redlining was utilized by banks where they procedurally “code…neighborhoods ‘red’—the lowest possible rating—on their loan evaluations, thereby making it next to impossible to get a mortgage for a home” in districts where real estate agents wanted to maintain the racial make-up of white communities. Lastly, by using redlining, banks and mortgage
Mortgage discrimination
Mortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion...
lenders do not make loans available to minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
and ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
s. Inevitably, there is a decline in the frequency of loans and the amount of loan money made available to minorities; less encouragement of accepting minority loan applications and “marketing policies that exclude such minority areas.” Elevated mortgage costs and less desirable terms on loans result from the weakening competition in the mortgage market, along with a reduction in finance options for purchasing homes for borrowers in minority neighborhoods.
Steering
In conjunction with redlining comes the overt discrimination mentioned above in the form of steeringRacial steering
Racial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race...
. This is an occurrence "in which agents do not disclose properties on the market to qualified African-American home seekers" and steer them to neighborhoods that have a similar racial make-up as the home seeker. They are especially steered away from predominantly white communities.
Why redlining and steering?
In essence, a reasoning behind redlining and steering is “white neighborhoods…[are] supposed to stay white” and retain a predominantly white racial make-up. This is a way in which the dominant race can have an advantage over other minority groups and preserve their privilege and superiority. According to Conley, “black housing may be worth less because the majority group (whites) controls the market” and inherently “segregation is in this group’s interest” to preserve this control.White flight
White flightWhite flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
is the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighbor hoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities. White flight may increase residential segregation in medium-income housing.
Preferences for racial composition of neighborhoods
Is residential segregation a product of personal desires for certain types of neighbors? Camille Charles, on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, gathered data from the Los Angeles Survey of Urban Inequality to determine the preferences of White, Latino, Black and Asian residents for racial makeup of neighborhoods. The study concludes that residents always favor having more “in-group” residents, or residents of their own race, than “out-group” residents. Whites had the highest degree of preference for having the majority of residents “co-ethnic” or of the same race. Whites also had the highest degree of preference for completely homogeneous (i.e. 100% white residents) racial makeup. Additionally, among Whites, Latino, and Asians, blacks are universally the least-preferred out group neighbors. Some researchers contend that this reaction may stem from the fact that statistically speaking, black neighborhoods have higher percentages of high school dropouts, single-parent families, and the unemployed. Therefore, these neighborhoods were likely to experience significantly higher rates of property crime, violent crime, and decreased home equity appreciation. In addition, schools populated by all-black or majority black students were found to have dramatically lower scores on standardized tests. The phenomenon of white flight therefore may apply to all non-black races fleeing from neighborhoods with too many black residents. As a result of such data, the average respondent did not desire the high degree of racial integration that is actually present in their particular neighborhood. The average respondent indicated a desire for neighborhoods where their own race makes up at least 20% or more of the neighborhood than any other race. However, evidence presented by the survey may indicate a white flight phenomenon largely fueled by economic reasons, as opposed to outright prejudice. An alternate explanation to the survey data is that respondents are answering in socially desirable ways that are different from their actual preferences.Gentrification
Although it is not always connected to race and can sometimes be generalized by class, gentrificationGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
or urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
is another form of residential segregation. Gentrification has historically been defined as higher income newcomers displacing lower income residents from up-and-coming urban neighborhoods. The concept has been understood as reflecting the residential turnover of an area that was predominantly composed of residents of color, to one populated by higher income whites. Yet definitions of gentrification fail to mention this racial component. Critical race theory is used to examine race as an implicit assumption that merits investigation as demographic changes in the U.S. challenge these class-based definitions.
Consequences of residential segregation
Dr. Camille Charles provides evidence from studies that show how discriminatory processes have led to high levels of residential segregation which have concentrated ethnic and racial minority groups in poorer and usually urban neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have higher rates of high school dropouts, lower college attendance rates, higher rates of teen pregnancy, higher rates of crime and social disorder, higher unemployment, and lower earnings. Together these studies show how residential segregation is detrimental to the social mobility of the entire group.Reducing residential segregation
John Yinger proposes three tactics for reducing residential segregation. Since the Civil Rights Act of 1968Civil Rights Act of 1968
On April 11, 1968 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 is commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68, and was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964...
(commonly known as the Fair Housing Act) housing discrimination is technically illegal. In 1978 the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed in order to make it illegal for creditors to discriminate against anyone based on race, color, national origin, sex, marital status, or age. First Yinger argues for enforcing existing to stop racial steering and discriminatory lending practices that keep minorities from getting mortgages in certain areas. More ardently enforcing the laws set in place by this federal act would to decrease residential segregation.
Second, Yinger advocates supporting neighborhoods that want to encourage more diversity so as to become multiethnic neighborhoods. Such neighborhoods can actively involve either a private or public organization to provide housing information to people of differing races, provide and encourage opportunities for intergroup contact, and mediate any intergroup differences. Such strategies have been shown to foster integration.
Finally, Yinger shows how household-based subsidies give vouchers to households for the difference of their rent and some pre-determined percentage of their income cane make housing in less segregated areas more affordable for families. Examples of this are the The Gautreaux Project and the Moving to Opportunity
Moving to Opportunity
Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing is a program sponsored by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development which gives Section 8 housing vouchers to low-income families and gives them counseling and assistance to help them move to low-poverty neighborhoods with better...
for Fair Housing initiative.
Another strategy is to transform segregated neighborhoods of concentrated poverty is to build Mixed Income Housing, that include rental and home ownership units, and are available to people across the income spectrum. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides grants to localities to build mixed income housing through its HOPE VI
HOPE VI
HOPE VI is a plan by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is meant to revitalize the worst public housing projects in the United States into mixed-income developments. Its philosophy is largely based on New Urbanism and the concept of Defensible space.The program began...
program, which aims to eradicate distressed public housing by improving physical conditions, management of public and subsidized housing, and social and community services for diverse residents. Many assert that mixed income housing helps improve the life chances of lower income residents through four main avenues: social network building, informal social control, role-modeling, and access to better services; new research, has found that increased social control and access to better services are the most robust ways that mixed income housing supports moving people out of poverty through this tool of desegregation.
Another method for reducing residential discrimination is to give more education to minority groups about the housing market and where discrimination is likely to occur.
See also
- Auto-segregationAuto-segregationAuto-segregation is the separation of a religious or ethnic group from the rest of society in a state by the group itself. Through auto-segregation, the members of the separate group can establish their own services, and maintain their own traditions and customs.For example, some world tribes have...
- DiscriminationDiscriminationDiscrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
- Institutional discriminationInstitutionalized discriminationInstitutionalized discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of an individual embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations such as the governments and corporations, financial institutions , public institutions , and other larger...
- SteeringRacial steeringRacial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race...
- RedliningRedliningRedlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
- BlockbustingBlockbustingBlockbusting is a business practice of U.S. real estate agents and building developers meant to encourage white property owners to sell their houses at a loss, by implying that racial, ethnic, or religious minorities — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews et al. — were moving into their previously racially...
- Housing SegregationHousing SegregationHousing Segregation is the practice of denying African American or other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. Misinformation can take the form of realtors or landlords not giving African American...
- Hypersegregation
- Racial segregationRacial segregationRacial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
- Spatial mismatchSpatial mismatchSpatial mismatch is the sociological, economic and political phenomenon associated with economic restructuring in which employment opportunities for low-income people are located far away from the areas where they live...
- Urban decayUrban decayUrban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
- Economic restructuringEconomic restructuringEconomic restructuring refers to the phenomenon of Western urban areas shifting from a manufacturing to a service sector economic base. This transformation has affected demographics including income distribution, employment, and social hierarchy; institutional arrangements including the growth of...
- Social exclusionSocial exclusionSocial exclusion is a concept used in many parts of the world to characterise contemporary forms of social disadvantage. Dr. Lynn Todman, director of the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, suggests that social exclusion refers to processes in which...
- Mortgage discriminationMortgage discriminationMortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion...
- GhettoGhettoA ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
- Socioeconomic statusSocioeconomic statusSocioeconomic status is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation...
- Wealth in the United StatesWealth in the United StatesWealth in the United States is commonly measured in terms of net worth, which is the sum of all assets, including home equity, minus all liabilities....
- RacismRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...