Barriers to the Racial Integration of Neighborhoods: The Detroit Case
| Date | 01 January 1979 |
| Published date | 01 January 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271627944100108 |
| Author | Reynolds Farley,Suzanne Bianchi,Diane Colasanto |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
97
Barriers
to
the
Racial
Integration
of
Neighborhoods:
The
Detroit
Case
BY
REYNOLDS
FARLEY,
SUZANNE
BIANCHI,
and
DIANE
COLASANTO
ABSTRACT:
This
paper
reports
findings
from
a
1976
study
of
the
causes
of
racial
residential
segregation
in
the
Detroit
metropolis.
One
of
the
reasons
for
the
per-
sistence
of
high
levels
of
segregation
is
white
ignorance
of
the
changing
values
of
other
whites.
If
all
whites—
especially
real
estate
dealers
and
lenders—recognized
the
willingness
of
most
whites
to
accept
black
neighbors,
to
remain
in
racially
mixed
areas
and
even
to
consider
pur-
chasing
homes
in
neighborhoods
which
have
black
residents,
the
pattern
of
whites
fleeing
when
blacks
enter
their
neigh-
borhood
might
be
altered.
Blacks
overwhelmingly
prefer
mixed
neighborhoods
but
are
somewhat
reluctant
to
move
into
a
neighborhood
where
they
would
be
the
only
black
family
because
they
fear
the
hostile
reactions
of
whites.
Blacks
may
also
be
ignorant
of
the
changing
racial
at-
titudes
of
whites
and
may
overestimate
the
difficulties
which
would
arise
if
they
entered
a
white
neighborhood.
Reynolds
Farley
is
an
Associate
Director
of
the
University
of Michigan’s
Popula-
tion
Studies
Center
and
chairman
of
the
Department
of Sociology.
He
is
continuing
to
analyze
the
causes
of
racial
residential
segregation
in
the
Detroit
area
and
is
conducting
an
investigation
of changing
levels
of racial
segregation
in
the
nation’s
public
schools.
Suzanne
Bianchi
recently
completed
a
dissertation
at
the
University
of Michigan
which
determined
how
changes
in
the
family
living
arrangements
of
blacks
and
whites
affected
their
economic
well-being.
She
is
now
employed
in
the
Education
and
Social
Stratification
Branch
of
the
Population
Division
of
the
United
States
Bureau
of
the
Census.
Diane
Colasanto
completed
a
dissertation
at
the
University
of
Michigan
which
described
the
relationship
between
the attitudes
of Detroit
area
blacks
and
whites
and
their
residential
preferences.
She
is
presently
developing
models
of
racial
residential
segregation
in
American
cities,
using
both
demographic
and
attitudinal
data,
and
is
an
Assistant
Professor
of
Sociology
at
the
University
of
Wisconsin
in
Madison.
ANNALS,
AAPSS,
441,
Jan.
1979
98
SINCE
the
early
1960s
there
have
L~
been
important
changes
in
the
opportunities
available
to
blacks
in
the
United
States.
Courts
have
over-
turned
segregationist
practices
and
numerous
laws
have
been
enacted
at
the
local,
state,
and
federal
level
to
encourage
a
more
racially
integrated
society.
There
is
ample
documen-
tation
that
blacks
have
made
signifi-
cant
gains
since
1960
in
the
eco-
nomic
and
political
spheres.’
Despite
legislation
and
economic
improvements,
levels
of
racial
resi-
dential
segregation
in
1970
were
approximately
as
great
as
they
were
decades
earlier.2
The
Taeubers’
in-
vestigation
demonstrated
that
stable
interracial
neighborhoods
were
ex-
tremely
rare
in
American
cities
of
all
sizes
and
in
cities
of
each
region.3
3
Long
documented
the
continued
growth
of the
black
population
in
the
largest
urbanized
areas
from
1960
to
1970-a
growth
that
has
been
con-
centrated
within
central
cities.4
In
1970,
a
very
small
proportion
of
blacks
lived
in
suburbs
and
those
few
who
resided
there
tended
to
be
concentrated
in
largely
black
neigh-
borhoods.5
5
The
residential
segregation
of
blacks
from
whites
remains
the
principal
barrier
to
further
racial
progress.
Residence
patterns
have
the
capability
of
aiding
or
hindering
the
achievement
of
racial
equality
of
opportunity-a
fact
explicitly
recog-
nized
in
the
use
of
busing
to
inte-
grate
schools.
To
the
extent
that
resi-
dential
segregation
impedes
equal
access
to
educational
and
employ-
ment
opportunities,
it
is
an
impor-
tant
social
policy
consideration.
In
addition,
being
neighbors
affords
a
realm
of
contact
quite
different
from
contact
on
the
job
or
at
school.
A
fully
integrated
society-if
that
is
the
goal-necessitates
opportunities
for
contact
at
such
a
level.
If
policies
are
to
be
developed
which
will
decrease
racial
resi-
dential
segregation,
it
is
necessary
to
investigate
those
social
processes
and
beliefs
which
currently
confine
whites
and
blacks
to
different
neigh-
borhoods.
Traditionally
there
have
been
three
explanations
for
racial
residential
segregation:
economic,
institutional
discrimination,
and
the
preferences
of
blacks.
Economic
argument
The
economic
argument
contends
that
racial
residential
segregation
1.
U.S.,
Commission
on
Civil
Rights,
Social
Indicators
of
Equality
for
Minorities
and
Women
(August,
1977),
R.
Freeman,
"Black
Economic
Progress
Since
1964,"
Public
In-
terest
(Summer
1978):
52-68;
S.
Levitan,
W.
Johnston,
and
R.
Taggert,
Still
a
Dream
The
Changing
Status
of
Blacks
Since
1960
(Cambridge:
Harvard
University
Press,
1975),
U.S.,
Bureau
of
the
Census,
"The
Social
and
Economic
Status
of
the
Black
Population
in
the
United
States,
1974,"
Current
Popula-
tion
Reports,
Series
P-23,
No.
54
(July,
1975);
R.
Hauser
and
D.
Featherman
"White-
Nonwhite
Differentials
in
Occupational
Mo-
bility
Among
Men
in
the
United
States,
1962-1972,"
Demography
(May
1974):
247-
266.
2.
A.
Sørensen,
K.
Taeuber
and
J.
Hollings-
worth,
"Indexes
of
Racial
Residential
Segre-
gation
for
109
Cities
in
the
United
States,
1940
to
1970,"
Sociological
Focus
(April
1975)
Tables
1
and
2;
T.
Van
Valey,
W.
Roof
and
J.
Wilcox,
"Trends
in
Residential
Segregation:
1960-1970,"
American
Journal
of
Sociology
(January
1977)
Tables
1
and
2.
3.
K.
and
A.
Taeuber,
Negroes
in
Cities
(Chicago:
Aldine,
1965),
105-114.
4.
L.
Long,
"How
the
Racial
Composition
of
Cities
Change,"
Land
Economics
(August
1975).
5.
B.
Berry
and
J.
Kasarda,
Contemporary
Urban
Ecology
(New
York:
Macmillan,
1977)
23-47;
A.
Hermalin
and
R.
Farley,
"The
Potential
for
Residential
Integration
in
Cities
and
Suburbs:
Implications
for
the
Busing
Controversy,"
American
Sociological
Review
(October
1973):
605-608.
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