Measuring and Comparing Ethnic Segregation in Cities

1
Measuring and Comparing Ethnic Segregation in
Cities

• drawn from
• Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton
• American Apartheid

2
Indices

• Index of segregation
• Calculate the percentage of A population that
  would have to move in order to even out the ratio
  of A to B among all the districts
• Index of isolation
• Calculate the ratio of A to B that is experienced
  in the surrounding district by every member of A,
  then calculate the average

3
Index of Segregation (of reds)
0
40
2/5
0
80
8/10
4
Index of Isolation (of reds)
33
49.2
(3x60)(2x33.33) / 5
50
83.7
(8x100)(1x20)(1x16.7) / 10
5
Notes on indices

• Both vary from 0 to 100
• Both are generally above 60 when cities are
  fairly strongly segregated
• Index of segregation is high if there is
  segregation, regardless of the absolute number of
  people in a minority population
• Index of isolation may be low when a minority is
  very small, even if it is strongly segregated
• Index of segregation is the best means of
  comparing between populations and cities
• Index of isolation is more reflective of the
  experience of the racial isolation/mixture in
  cities

6
History of segregation in the US1

• Was ethnic segregation in American cities
  stronger or weaker at the start of the 20th c.?
• Weaker
• Where did most of Americas black population live
  at this time?
• In the South
• On farms
• Sharecroppers
• Oppression took the form of debt peonage,
  vagrancy laws, etc.

7
Consequences of the Great Migration
Black Population Trends Black Population Trends Black Population Trends
  1890s 1960s
Southern 90.3 10
Rural 90 5
Northern 9.7 90
Urban 10 95
Source Dr. Stanley K. Schultz, UW-Madison,
http//us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lectur
e09.html
8
History of Segregation in the US 2

• Blockbusting
• quietly buy up properties in areas that resist
  integration then install black renters and owners
  en masse
• scare residents with predictions of an invasion
  and appear to be the savior who has come to bail
  them out
• buy cheap
• sell expensive
• target people who are likely to default on their
  loans so you can re-sell the same property
• subdivide buildings and greatly increase the
  residential density so as to maximize profits
• lure in the most successful black families early,
  then make more money off them when they become
  surrounded by a new ghetto and want to move again

9
History of Segregation in the US 3

• For other responses to Great Migration see
  previous presentation
• After WWII, all forms of fight were replaced by
  flight in the form of white suburbanization.
  What encouraged this?
• new technologies
• automobile
• balloon frame house
• federal assistance
• Federal Aid Highway Act (FAHA) 1956
• Federal Housing Authority (FHA loans)
• Veterans Administration (VA loans)