A Model for Inferring the Voluntary and involuntary causes of residential segregation

Abstract

It is clear that both voluntary and involuntary forces normally contribute to the residential segregation existing between groups. For the most part, the contribution of each dimension has not been determined. Rather, researchers operate as if either one or the other force is operating. In the United States, for example, black-white segregation is assumed to be imposed by whites on blacks, as if the latter were themselves totally indifferent to the racial composition in their areas of residence. On the other hand, it is assumed that segregation between white ethnic groups is at present purely a voluntary matter. In an earlier period, it was assumed that their segregation was both voluntary (reflecting desires to be among copatriots) and involuntary (reflecting the imposition of restrictions on residential movement by other groups as well as economic forces). But it has not been possible for investigators to determine the relative importance of each factor. Using asymmetrical segregation indexes, a rudimentary procedure is proposed for determining the relative importance of voluntary and involuntary forces operating to generate a given level of segregation. Data based on Black, Anglo, and Spanish residential patterns are then considered in terms of the proposed model.

Race, culture, and practice: segregation and local food in Birmingham, Alabama

“…A standardized method for addressing MAUP and localized segregation indices has yet to emerge; efforts are ongoing to visualize residential segregation (e.g. Feitosa, Reyes, & Zesk, 2008;Lloyd & Shuttleworth, 2012;Omer, Bak, & Schreck, 2010), as well as to correlate segregation indices with social processes (Charles, 2003;Lieberson & Carter, 1982a, 1982b. We aim to correlate changes in residential segregation dynamics over this 50-year period with the social processes of isolation of Whites that results in the dominance of White habitusand the unintelligibility of Black habitus in White spaces.…”

Residential Segregation: Geographic Aspects

“…Several other indices can be derived from this to capture the spatial segregation and isolation of one or more population groups from one another. Perhaps the best known of these is the asymmetric index of segregation, P*, which describes the spatial isolation of a social group and provides a measure of potential interaction between that group and another (Lieberson and Carter, 1982).…”

Bridges across the Racial Digital Divide: Residential Ecology of Internet Use

“…it is important to be aware of the cause of residential isolation, because it can have considerable implications for the consequences of individual behaviour (Lieberson, 1982;Clark, 1986). A group who chooses to live in close proximity to its own ethnic members for various reasons, especially recent immigrant groups, such as Asians and Hispanics, can also choose to interact with other groups in different contexts.…”