religious devotion. Mennonites and Amish communities retain their social segregation from other groups for years. Minority and immigrant groups have experienced social segregation voluntarily or involuntarily in schools and workplaces throughout centuries.
In the past century, the study of racial and ethnic segregation became more important than ever as many countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, the United States) became more racially and ethnically diverse due to the arrival of immigrants from all over the world. As the level of racial and ethnic diversity increases, the level of residential segregation for some groups has remained steady or even increased. Given the broad and negative impact of segregation on the social and economic outcomes of segregated groups, it is important to have a better understanding of the reasons for its emergence in a multi-ethnic context, the mechanisms for maintaining it, and its wide-ranging consequences.
Chapter-by-Chapter Outline of the Book
This book is an in-depth examination of segregation, with topics ranging from its societal importance, theoretical foundations, conceptual framing, methodological approaches, consequences, and potential remedies at both the community and macro level.
Chapter 2 outlines the significance of segregation as a social problem and reviews the major theories and concepts scholars use to study it. We begin by defining segregation and illustrating its relevance to social stratification and group well-being. Segregation has significant economic, psychological, and social implications for individuals, groups, and their societies. To gain conceptual clarity, we expand on our typology of segregation to distinguish it by type (physical, social, or a combination), nature (voluntary and involuntary), and consequences (economic, psychological, and social). This expanded typology touches on the definition, causes, and consequences of segregation. For example, as noted above, one helpful way to distinguish segregation is whether it is voluntary or involuntary. While voluntary segregation is often a group strategy for adaptation or a reflection of preference, involuntary segregation is often a result of constrained choice due to discrimination, prejudice, or other variables that limit access, such as income.
Chapter 3 turns to how social scientists measure segregation. Identifying patterns allows us to describe what segregation looks like in different places, and helps us to quantify the extent of segregation using indices and other summary measures. Quantitative measures of segregation show that it is common, with almost everyone experiencing some form of it in their lifetime. Representing the “bird’s-eye” view, we first discuss segregation indices that seek to summarize important features of city-wide segregation patterns. Quantitative indices developed by sociologists and geographers can describe the evenness, exposure, concentration, centralization, and clustering of different groups within the city (Massey and Denton 1988). We will review methodological innovations seeking to improve the accuracy of these measures, as well as new measures that better incorporate spatial relations between groups, account for segregation in multigroup settings, and allow for comparison of different countries and urban scale. The ubiquitous nature of segregation suggests that it is a good entry point to understand group dynamics and individual behaviors. However, studying these important processes requires zooming in from the bird’s-eye perspective toward the ground level. Representing a “on-foot” or “street-level” view, we will discuss how segregation can be created and maintained through a broader range of physical, social, and symbolic boundaries that often create social distance even when groups are physically proximate. Together, both bird’s-eye and ground-level assessments of segregation are important for explaining the social, economic, and cultural factors that create and maintain that segregation over time.
Chapter 4 describes patterns of racial and ethnic residential segregation in different countries, but with particular focus on the United States. We then discuss theoretical perspectives from social science that seek to explain residential segregation: spatial assimilation, place stratification, group preference, and social structural sorting. The spatial assimilation perspective emphasizes the importance of socioeconomic differences between groups to explain the segregation of different groups. The place stratification perspective highlights the process through which the dominant group maintain spatial separation from other groups. The group preference perspective suggests that segregation reflects group relations. The discussion highlights the debate over voluntary versus involuntary segregation with respect to residential segregation. The social structural sorting perspective points out that we are familiar with only a limited number of neighborhoods. Such knowledge is shaped by the social structure of the society in which we grew up. Our choice of residence is thus based on this small number of familiar neighborhoods, which in turn perpetuates residential segregation. Finally, we highlight how residential segregation can have drastic consequences for the life chances of individuals. The discussion demonstrates that racial and ethnic residential segregation is the spatial foundation of inequality and almost every individual experiences it in some form.
Chapter 5 focuses on residential segregation that is patterned by both economic and racial/ethnic status, namely when there is income segregation and poverty concentration of racial and ethnic groups. The discussion addresses residential segregation by income level in various cities in the world. Different explanations are suggested to account for income residential segregation in different cities with diverse political structures. Beginning in the 1980s, a growing set of literature started exploring the spatial concentration of poverty in the United States, especially among racial minorities. Most scholars agreed that the cause of poverty concentration was involuntary, and two possible reasons emerged to explain the poverty concentration of African Americans. Wilson (1987) argued that the selective departure of middle-class African Americans from poor black neighborhoods had contributed to the geographic concentration of poverty among African Americans. Massey and his colleagues (Massey and Denton 1993; Massey, Gross, and Shibuya 1994) argued that the concentration was simply a result of an increasing number of poor people living in certain areas due to the residential segregation of African Americans in racially segmented housing markets. An extensive body of research suggests that racial/ethnic residential segregation creates adversity for individuals growing up and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The negative effects on the well-being of these residents, and reverberating effects on the entire city, are substantial.
While continuing along the topic of physical segregation, Chapter 6 shifts the focus to the dynamics of the geographic concentration of ethnic groups. We discuss why and how ethnic groups are concentrated in certain locations and form ethnic communities. We focus on social, economic, and cultural explanations, and review research findings on ethnic communities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and European countries. Groups cluster for both voluntary and involuntary reasons. We outline the consequences of participating in ethnic community, including gaining social support, improving self-esteem, and assisting economic achievement. However, we also show how participating in ethnic community can sometimes lead to negative consequences.
Chapter 7 turns to focus on the segregation of immigrants. Three theories help to explain the barriers and pathways to integration of immigrants into a new society: the classical assimilation perspective, the selective immigration perspective, and the segmented assimilation perspective. Based mainly on research from major cities in Canada, Europe, and the United States, we see that immigrant groups vary in whether and how they integrate into mainstream society. Two of the main impediments to greater social integration of immigrants are a lack of inter-group contact and occupational segregation, both of which are exacerbated by blocked career pathways, linguistic barriers, the ethnic economy, and residential segregation. The social exclusion and inequality due to segregation have detrimental effects on the integration of immigrants.
In the concluding chapter, we summarize and discuss the key lessons in the study of
