Abstract
Questions have been raised about whether white flight—one factor contributing to U.S. residential segregation—is driven by racial, race-associated, or neutral ethnocentric concerns. I use closed- and open-ended survey data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality to explore who says they would leave and their reasons for doing so. Thirty-eight percent of white respondents said they would leave one of the integrated neighborhoods, with Detroiters and those endorsing negative racial stereotypes especially likely to do so. When asked why they might leave, whites focused on the negative features of integrated neighborhoods. Expressions of racial prejudice were also common, but neutral ethnocentrism rare. The results of an experiment asking about integration with Asians and Latinos are also discussed.
Residential Segregation, Racial Attitude, Racial Prejudice, White Respondent, Residential Preference
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
Berry, B.J.L. (
1979
). The Open Housing Question: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1966–1976
. Cambridge, MA
: Ballinger
.Blumer, H. (
1958
). Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position
. Pacific Sociological Review
, 1
, 3
–7
.Bobo, L., Johnson, J., Oliver, M., Farley, R., Bluestone, B., Browne, I., Danziger, S., Green, G., Holzer, H., Krysan, M., Massagli, M., & Zubrinsky Charles, C. (
2000
). Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, 1992–1994: [Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles] [Household Survey Data]
. Mathematica, Atlanta GA
: University of Massachussets, Survey Research Laboratory
.Bobo, L.D, & Zubrinsky, C. (
1996
). Attitudes on Residential Integration: Perceived Status Differences, Mere In-Group Preference, or Racial Prejudice?
. Social Forces
, 74
, 883
–909
. 10.2307/2580385Charles, C.Z. (
2000
). Neighborhood Racial-Composition Preferences: Evidence From a Multiethnic Metropolis
. Social Problems
, 47
, 379
–407
. 10.1525/sp.2000.47.3.03x0297kCharles, C.Z. (
2001
). Processes of Racial Residential Segregation
. In O’Connor, A., Tilly, C., & Bobo, L.D. (Eds.), Urban Inequality: Evidence From Four Cities
(pp. 217
–71
). New York
: Russell Sage Foundation
.Clark, W.A.V. (
1992
). Residential Preferences and Residential Choices in a Multiethnic Context
. Demography
, 29
, 451
–66
. 10.2307/2061828Crowder, K. (
2000
). The Racial Context of White Mobility: An Individual-Level Assessment of the White Flight Hypothesis
. Social Science Research
, 29
, 223
–57
. 10.1006/ssre.1999.0668Emerson, M.O., Yancey, G., & Chai, K.J. (
2001
). Does Race Matter in Residential Segregation? Exploring the Preferences of White Americans
. American Sociological Review
, 66
, 922
–35
. 10.2307/3088879Farley, R., Fielding, E., & Krysan, M. (
1997
). The Residential Preferences of Blacks and Whites: A Four Metropolis Analysis
. Housing Policy Debate
, 8
, 763
–800
.Farley, R., Schuman, H., Bianchi, S., Colasanto, D., & Hatchett, S. (
1978
). Chocolate Cities, Vanilla Suburbs: Will the Trend Toward Racially Separate Communities Continue?
. Social Science Research
, 7
, 319
–44
. 10.1016/0049-089X(78)90017-0Farley, R., Steeh, C.G., Krysan, M., Reeves, K., & Jackson, T. (
1994
). Stereotypes and Segregation: Neighborhoods in the Detroit Area
. American Journal of Sociology
, 100
, 750
–78
. 10.1086/230580Finkel, S.E., Guterbock, T.M., & Borg, M.J. (
1989
). Race of Interviewer Effects in a Pre-Election Poll: Virginia 1989
. Public Opinion Quarterly
, 55
, 313
–30
. 10.1086/269264Frey, W.H. (
1979
). Central City White Flight: Racial and Nonracial Causes
. American Sociological Review
, 44
, 425
–48
. 10.2307/2094885Galster, G.C. (
1990
). White Flight From Racially Integrated Neighborhoods in the 1970s: The Cleveland Experience
. Urban Studies
, 27
, 385
–99
. 10.1080/00420989020080341Goering, J.M. (
1978
). Neighborhood Tipping and Racial Transition
. Journal of the American Institute of Planners
, 44
, 68
–78
. 10.1080/01944367808976879Harris, D.R. (
1999
). ‘Property Values Drop When Blacks Move In, Because … ’: Racial and Socioeconomic Determinants of Neighborhood Desirability
. American Sociological Review
, 64
, 461
–79
. 10.2307/2657496Harris, D.R. (
2001
). Why Are Whites and Blacks Averse to Black Neighbors?
. Social Science Research
, 30
, 100
–16
. 10.1006/ssre.2000.0695Hatchett, S., & Schuman, H. (
1976
). White Respondents and Race of Interviewer Effects
. Public Opinion Quarterly
, 39
, 523
–28
. 10.1086/268249Jackman, M.R. (
1994
). The Velvet Glove: Paternalism and Conflict in Gender, Class and Race
. Berkeley
: University of California Press
.Jackman, M., & Muha, M. (
1984
). Education and Intergroup Attitudes: Moral Enlightenment, Superficial Democratic Commitment, or Ideological Refinement?
. American Sociological Review
, 49
, 751
–69
. 10.2307/2095528Krysan, M. (
1998
). Privacy and the Expression of White Racial Attitudes: A Comparison Across Three Contexts
. Public Opinion Quarterly
, 62
, 506
–44
. 10.1086/297859Krysan, M., & Farley, R. (
2002
). The Residential Preferences of Blacks: Do They Explain Persistent Segregation?
. Social Forces
, 80
, 937
–80
. 10.1353/sof.2002.0011Lee, B.A., Oropesa, R.S., & Kanan, J.W. (
1994
). Neighborhood Context and Residential Mobility
. Demography
, 31
, 249
–70
. 10.2307/2061885Lee, B.A., & Wood, P.B. (
1991
). Is Neighborhood Racial Succession Place-Specific?
. Demography
, 28
, 21
–40
. 10.2307/2061334Long, J. S., & Freese, J. (
2001
). Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using Stata
. College Station, TX
: Stata Press Publication
.Marshall, H. (
1979
). White Movement to the Suburbs: A Comparison of Explanations
. American Sociological Review
, 44
, 975
–94
. 10.2307/2094721Marshall, H., & O’Flaherty, K. (
1987
). Suburbanization in the Seventies: The ‘Push-Pull’ Hypothesis Revisited
. Journal of Urban Affairs
, 9
, 249
–62
. 10.1111/j.1467-9906.1987.tb00479.xMassey, D.S., & Denton, N.A. (
1993
). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass
. Cambridge, MA
: Harvard University Press
.Mayer, A. (
1960
). Russell Woods: Change Without Conflict
. In Glazer, N., & McEntire, D. (Eds.), Studies in Housing and Minority Groups
(pp. 198
–220
). Berkeley
: University of California Press
.Molotch, H.L. (
1969
). Racial Change in a Stable Community
. American Journal of Sociology
, 75
, 226
–38
. 10.1086/224768Quillian, L. (
1999
). Migration Patterns and the Growth of High-Poverty Neighborhoods, 1970–1990
. American Journal of Sociology
, 105
, 1
–37
. 10.1086/210266Schelling, T.C. (
1971
). Dynamic Models of Segregation
. Journal of Mathematical Sociology
, 1
, 143
–86
. 10.1080/0022250X.1971.9989794Schuman, H., & Johnson, M.P. (
1976
). Attitudes and Behavior
. Annual Review of Sociology
, 2
, 161
–207
. 10.1146/annurev.so.02.080176.001113Schuman, H., Steeh, C.G., Bobo, L.D., & Krysan, M. (
1997
). Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations
. Cambridge, MA
: Harvard University Press
.South, S.J., & Crowder, K. (
1998
). Leaving the ‘Hood’: Residential Mobility Between Black, White, and Integrated Neighborhoods
. American Sociological Review
, 63
, 17
–26
. 10.2307/2657474Taub, R.P., Taylor, D.G., & Dunham, J.D. (
1984
). Paths of Neighborhood Change: Race and Crime in Urban
. America. Chicago
: University of Chicago Press
.Turner, M.A., & Wienk, R. (
1993
). The Persistence of Segregation in Urban Areas: Contributing Causes
. In Kingsley, G.T., & Turner, M.A. (Eds.), Housing Markets and Residential Mobility
(pp. 193
–219
). Washington, DC
: Urban Institute Press
.Wolf, E. (
1963
). The Tipping-Point in Racially Changing Neighborhoods
. Journal of the American Institute of Planners
, 29
, 217
–22
. 10.1080/01944366308978066Wurdock, C. (
1981
). Neighborhood Racial Transition: A Study of the Role of White Flight
. Urban Affairs Quarterly
, 17
, 75
–89
. 10.1177/004208168101700105Yinger, J. (
1995
). Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination
. New York
: Russell Sage Foundation
.Zubrinsky, C.L., & Bobo, L.D. (
1996
). Prismatic Metropolis: Race and Residential Segregation in the City of the Angels
. Social Science Research
, 25
, 335
–74
. 10.1006/ssre.1996.0016© Population Association of America 2002
2002
