Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools: Residential Segregation and the Search for a Good School

Chapter 2. Pathways to Residential Segregation

27   Chapter 2   Pathways to Residential Segregation Maria Krysan, Kyle Crowder, and Michael D. M. Bader I n a recent report for the Manhattan Institute, the economists Edward Glaeser and Jacob Vigdor (2012) offered the argument that dramatic shifts in public attitudes, changes in housing policies, and improved access to credit have ushered in a new era of residential integration, putting an end to the hyper-segregation that has characterized America’s cities for more than a century. In making this case they point out that allwhite neighborhoods are virtually extinct and most isolated black neighborhoods are fading away. To be sure, Glaeser and Vigdor are not alone in their optimism; other leading scholars have interpreted recent declines in aggregate patterns of segregation as a sign of emerging residential equality unlike that seen in modern America (see, for example, Farley 2011; Iceland 2009; Timberlake and Iceland 2007). At the same time, many other authors interpret similar evidence with considerably more skepticism (for example, Crowder, Pais, and South 2012; Krysan 2011). Certainly, racially disparate residential mobility patterns and the slow pace of segregation declines, especially in areas where racial and ethnic minority populations are most concentrated, may be interpreted as a sign that residential stratification remains, and is likely to remain, a defining feature of our metropolitan areas. This residential inequality carries with it serious individual-level and collective consequences ; high levels of racial-residential segregation have been linked to, among other outcomes, racial disparities in economic opportunities (Massey et al. 1991; Turner 2008; vonLockette 2010), wealth accumulation (Lipsitz and Oliver 2010), a range of individual health outcomes (Diez Roux and Mair 2010; Kramer and Hogue 2009; Kramer et al. 2012; Russell et al. 2012), and exposure to crime (Krivo, Peterson, and 28    Choosing Homes, Choosing Schools Kuhl 2009) and environmental hazards (Crowder and Downey 2010). Perhaps most troubling is that with an increasing number of school districts abandoning busing and other remedies emerging from the Brown v. Board desegregation order, the persistence of residential segregation has profound implications for school segregation, interracial contact among students, and disparities in educational outcomes (Logan et al. 2008; Reardon et al. 2012). In this chapter we provide an overview of current levels and recent trends in patterns of residential segregation by race, and then review the dominant theoretical arguments used to explain persistent residential segregation by race and some of the key evidence related to these perspectives . We focus not just on the relative support for these theoretical arguments but also on the ways that mechanisms implicated in these competing theoretical frameworks complement each other, interacting to shape racially disparate residential outcomes. We also delve into some of the forces ignored by the Big Three theoretical arguments, including information networks, residential opportunity structures, and intergenerational dynamics. Scattered research from a number of subdisciplines suggests that these forces play underappreciated roles in perpetuating segregation in the face of the apparent softening of racial attitudes, shifting racial disparities in socioeconomic conditions, and rapidly diversifying populations. The review points to new lines of research that must be explored if we are to understand the endurance of segregation across neighborhoods and schools. Patterns and Consequences of Residential Segregation According to all accounts, residential segregation has declined markedly in recent decades. For example, across metropolitan areas the average score on the index of dissimilarity—our most common measure of residential evenness—for blacks and whites dropped from 79 in 1970 to 59 in 2010 (Logan and Stults 2011). Thus, according to the metric offered by Massey and Denton (1993), average black-white segregation across metropolitan areas has dropped from a very high level to the top of the moderate level. The segregation of other groups from whites is even lower; while there are substantial variations across subgroups, the average Latino-white dissimilarity score across metropolitan areas is 48.5 and the average Asian-white score is 40.9. Average residential dissimilarity scores comparing most pairs of nonwhite groups are even lower (Iceland 2009; Logan and Stults 2011). Yet, despite these signs of progress, it is difficult—though apparently not impossible—to deny that racial-residential stratification remains a defining feature of U.S. metropolitan areas. Since 1970, average levels Pathways to Residential Segregation      29 of segregation of both Latinos and Asians from whites have actually increased. And, despite recent declines in many areas, the average blackwhite dissimilarity level remains near the high range (Iceland 2009) and, more...