Housing, Schools, and Incremental Segregative Effects

• Author: Karl E. Taeuber
• Published date: 01 January 1979
• Date: 01 January 1979
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271627944100112
• Subject Matter: Articles

157

Housing,

Schools,

and

Incremental

Segregative

Effects

BY

KARL

E.

TAEUBER

ABSTRACT:

Racial

segregation

in

housing

contributes

to

racial

segregation

in

schools,

and

racially

identifiable

schools

contribute

to

the

development

and

maintenance

of

segre-

gated

neighborhoods.

Examination

of the

reciprocal

interplay

between

housing

and

school

segregation

has

been

spurred

by

the

Supreme

Court’s

decision

in

the

Dayton

school

case,

which

calls

for

determination

of

how

much

incremental

segregative

effect

the

discriminatory

actions

of

a

school

board

had

on

the

racial

distribution

of

pupils

compared

to

what

the

distribution

would

have

been

if

the

board

had

never

practised

discrimination.

In

recent

hearings

in

the

Milwaukee

school

case,

plaintiffs

sought

to

address

this

specific

question

through

the

testimony

of

a

social

scientist.

Discriminatory

actions

with

respect

to

teacher

assignment,

"intact

busing,"

student

transfers,

school

plant

utilization,

and

attendance

zone

boundary

changes

were

identified

as

having

pervasive

and

enduring

effects

on

racial

residential

segregation

in

Milwaukee.

This

case

study

illustrates

that

the

Supreme

Court’s

effort

to

construe

school

cases

narrowly

should

fail,

and

that

policymakers,

whether

they

are

concerned

with

housing,

schools,

or

other

domains,

should

cultivate

a

broad

perspective

on

the

unity

of

the

nation’s

racial

problems.

Karl

E.

Taeuber

received

his

Ph.D.

in

sociology

from

Harvard.

He

joined

the

faculty

at

the

University

of

Wisconsin

in

1964

and

now

serves

as

Professor

of

Sociology

and

Assistant

Director

of

the

Institute

for

Research

on

Poverty.

He

has

published

articles

and

monographs

on

migration

and

urbanizátion,

with

particular

attention

to

racial

differentials

and

segregation.

Since

1970

he

has

testified

as

an

&dquo;expert

witness&dquo;

for

plaintiffs

in

school

segregation

trials

in

Detroit,

Boston,

Cleveland,

Milwaukee,

and

a

dozen

other

cities.

The

development

of

these

ideas

benefited

from

the

hard

work

and

shared

wisdom

of

attorneys

Lloyd

A.

Barbee,

Irvin

B.

Chame,

Howard

A.

Pollack,

and

Howard

B.

Tolkan.

ANNALS,

AAPSS,

441,

Jan.

1979