Resisting Amnesia: Renewing and Expanding the Study of Suburban Inequality

Abstract

r. l'Heur eu x lew is-mccoy , natasH a wa r ikoo, stepHen a. m at t Hews , a nd na dir a H fa r a H foley Suburban inequality is the focus of this double issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. This introduction addresses the limited related scholarship, describes how inequality unfolds differently in suburban communities than in urban and rural communities, and draws attention to urgent issues related to stratification between and within suburban communities. We argue that inattention to the study of suburban space, methodological and disciplinary silos, and the changing nature of the suburbs have left large holes in our understanding of how inequality operates. This critical review covers areas such as measurement, forgotten suburban scholarship, demographic change, suburban poverty, social supports, race, immigration, education, politics, policing, and future directions for suburban studies. In our call for resisting amnesia, we also draw attention to forgotten suburban histories and studies of a diverse range of suburban communities.

Racial Diversity and Segregation: Comparing Principal Cities, Inner-Ring Suburbs, Outlying Suburbs, and the Suburban Fringe

“…Whites have increasingly left diversifying inner-ring suburban neighborhoods for predominantly White suburban fringe communities or have returned to neighborhoods in the metro core (Parisi, Lichter, and Taquino 2019;Timberland and Howell 2022). America's burgeoning suburbs are in demographic flux (Lewis-McCoy et al 2023).…”