Making Contact? Black-White Social Interaction in an Urban Setting

Sigelman, Lee; Bledsoe, Timothy; Welch, Susan; Combs, Michael W.

doi:10.1086/230824

Cited by 263 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…First, the growth of the black middle and upper-middle classes has resulted in an increased bifurcation of blacks by class status (Wilson 1978;Smith and Welch 1989;Jaynes and Williams 1989). Second, consistent with the first trend described above, the proportion of black Americans who have had interracial contact prior to adulthood has grown due to the increase in the number living in and attending racially integrated or predominantly white neighborhoods and schools (Massey and Denton 1988;Farley and Frey 1994;Frey and Farley 1996;Sigelman et al 1996). Third, the population of foreignborn blacks has grown, as have populations of biracial and multiracial people with African ancestry (Farley and Allen 1987;Kasinitz 1992;Root 1992Root , 1996bOuttz 1994; U.S. Bureau of the Census 1996; Waters 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Intraracial Diversity and Relations among African‐Americans: Closeness among Black Students at a Predominantly White University

Smith

Moore

2000

American Journal of Sociology

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A case study of black college students at a predominantly white liberal arts college is employed to question continuing assumptions in sociological research that blacks represent social, cultural, and economic homogeneity and that intraracial relations are close and without conflict. The article examines the extent to which black students feel close to other black students on campus, rely on one another for need satisfaction and social interaction, and share similar values, experiences, and attitudes. The authors find that the odds of closeness are significantly reduced for biracial students, for black students from low SES backgrounds, and for black students from predominantly white backgrounds. Among biracial students and those from predominantly white environments, social distance reflects their overall distance from the larger black community and is a function of their lack of "racial awareness." The social distance of low SES students appears specific to the community of black students within the college and is not expressed toward the larger black community. Moreover, feelings of distance appear to be driven by perceived social, cultural, and economic differences from other black students.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Intraracial Diversity and Relations among African‐Americans: Closeness among Black Students at a Predominantly White University

Smith

Moore

2000

American Journal of Sociology

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“…A great deal of previous empirical work found a direct positive link between the number of potential cross-ethnic friends in schools or classrooms and the frequency of cross-ethnic friendships (Damico & Sparks, 1986;Hallinan & Teixeira, 1987, Howes & Wu, 1990Quillian & Campbell, 2003). Yet, opportunities for cross-ethnic friendships alone may not be sufficient for the actual development of crossethnic friendships (Mouw & Entwisle, 2006;Sigelman, Bledsoe, Welch, & Combs, 1996). It has been suggested that homophily, the tendency to choose friends with similar characteristics, also affects friendship formation.…”

Section: Cross-ethnic Friendships and Ethnic Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most previous studies investigating secondary school cross-ethnic friendships examined only Black-White or majorityminority interracial friendships (e.g., Hallinan & Williams, 1989;Sigelman et al, 1996;Vervoort et al, 2011), which may not represent current social environments in big cities. In this study, we accounted for cross-ethnic friendships among various ethnic groups residing in London.…”

Section: Aims and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-ethnic friendships: Are they really rare? Evidence from secondary schools around London

Bağcı¹,

Kumashiro²,

Smith³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

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This study examined current cross-ethnic friendship patterns in secondary schools around London, UK, and the effects of ethnic group and ethnic diversity on cross-ethnic friendship selection and quality. Questionnaires including self-report ethnic group definitions and measures of same-/cross-ethnic friendship numbers, along with the quality of 3 best crossethnic friends, were distributed to 684 Year 7 (aged 11) British students (256 White European, 63 Middle Easterner, 118 Black, 247 South Asian) recruited from 9 multi-ethnic secondary schools (37 classrooms) in Greater London. In contrast to most previous research which suggested the relative rarity of cross-ethnic friendships, findings showed that crossethnic friendships were in fact frequent and of high quality, outnumbering same-ethnic friendships for all ethnic groups.After controlling for gender, classroom gender composition, percentage of available same-ethnic peers, ethnic identity and perceived discrimination, classroom ethnic diversity still had a marginally positive effect on cross-ethnic friendship selection, but had no effect on cross-ethnic friendship quality. White British children reported higher cross-ethnic friendship selection and lower cross-ethnic friendship quality compared to other ethnic groups, but this depended on classroom ethnic diversity. Implications of the findings are discussed in the light of intergroup contact and friendship theories. We conclude that research on cross-ethnic friendships is crucial in providing insights into how integration at the social level starts during early childhood in modern multi-ethnic settings like London secondary schools.

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“…It is possible for whites to live in a state with a large percentage of blacks without ever coming into direct or meaningful social contact with blacks. In fact, given the high rates of residential segregation (Sigelman et al 1996;Massey and Denton 1993), this scenario is not at all unlikely. Nonetheless, for whites interracial contact is more likely in areas with higher concentrations of nonwhites (Sigelman et al 1996).…”

Section: The Influence Of Racial and Ethnic Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, given the high rates of residential segregation (Sigelman et al 1996;Massey and Denton 1993), this scenario is not at all unlikely. Nonetheless, for whites interracial contact is more likely in areas with higher concentrations of nonwhites (Sigelman et al 1996). This article will not attempt to test whether actual social contact with blacks and Latinos influences the prevalence of stereotypes among whites or the impact those stereotypes have on welfare-spending preferences.…”

Section: The Influence Of Racial and Ethnic Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Changing Color of Welfare? How Whites’ Attitudes toward Latinos Influence Support for Welfare

Fox

2004

American Journal of Sociology

212

160

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This article uses the National Election Study to consider how stereotypes about Latinos influence white support for welfare. It shows that whites' stereotypes about Latino work ethic grow more positive as the size of the Latino population increases, suggesting positive effects of contact. Moreover, the effect of whites' stereotypes about Latino-but not black-work ethic on support for welfare is contingent on ethnic context. In areas with few Latinos, the lazier whites think Latinos are, the less whites want to spend on welfare. However, in areas that are disproportionately Latino the more hardworking whites think Latinos are (controlling for whites' stereotypes about blacks), the less whites want to spend on welfare as well. This last result, this article argues, is the product of a social comparison between black and Latino work ethic.

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Making Contact? Black-White Social Interaction in an Urban Setting

Cited by 263 publications

References 20 publications

Intraracial Diversity and Relations among African‐Americans: Closeness among Black Students at a Predominantly White University

Intraracial Diversity and Relations among African‐Americans: Closeness among Black Students at a Predominantly White University

Cross-ethnic friendships: Are they really rare? Evidence from secondary schools around London

The Changing Color of Welfare? How Whites’ Attitudes toward Latinos Influence Support for Welfare

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