American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

1. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass Douglas S Massey and Nancy A. Denton Presentation by Bruce Mork Sociology 2001American Apartheid

2. Sociology 2001American Apartheid

3. Research Question Why are African Americans so disproportionately poor 130 years after the end of slavery? 90 years after the beginning of the Great Migration? 40 years after the first modern Civil Rights Legislation? Sociology 2001American Apartheid

4. W.E.B. DuBois: “The problem of the 20th century will be the problem of the color line.” Initial hunch: Segregation may well be the single largest factor in the this disproportion. Look at any of our larger cities, and you will be struck by the extreme racial segregation of black Americans. Theory: The causes of this hypersegregation are to be found in the actions of the white community, and the consequences will include many of the ills associated with the so-called underclass. Conceptual definition of ghetto: “set of neighborhoods that are exclusively inhabited by members of one group, within which virtually all members of that group live. Sociology 2001American Apartheid

5. Operational definition of segregation—the % of a minority group that would have to move in order to achieve a pattern of proportional representation, which will be termed the Index of Dissimilarity. Operationalizing the theory: Measurement Sociology 2001American Apartheid

6. Research Hypotheses • 1. The index of dissimilarity will be much higher for African Americans than for other minorities. • 2. The index will actually increase during the 20th century, in conjunction with the great migration. • 3. The causes of the increased segregation will be found in the white community • 4. Consequences include: less access to jobs, less ability to build political coalitions, the growth of inner city cultural and linguistic differences. Sociology 2001American Apartheid

7. Historical Research: Documenting the trend • 1. The Great Migration and “piling up” • 2. Attitudes—Gallup poll, 1942: “Do you think there should be separate sections in towns and cities for Negroes to live in?” 84% of whites answered yes • 3. Comparison with European immigrant groups: much lower ISDs. Sociology 2001American Apartheid

8. Index of dissimilarity, 1860-1940 Sociology 2001American Apartheid

9. Causal Factors in hypersegregation • Violence: race riots after WWI and WWII • Restrictive covenants: legal until 1949 • Redlining in government and private mortgage programs • Segregated government programs of low income housing… e.g., Chicago Sociology 2001American Apartheid

10. Current Trends • More tables comparing cities’ ISD scores, showing a little progress in the 1980s • Comparisons with Latino minority. In 1990, e.g, the average Chicago African American lived in an area that was 90% black; the average Chicago Latino in an area that was 50% non-Hispanic white. Sociology 2001American Apartheid

11. Consequences of Hypersegregation • 1. Communication networks and jobs. • 2. Absence of shared neighborhood interests across lines of race/ethnicity and therefore difficulty in building political coalitions. • 3. Inner city urban black culture/language increasing distinct and oppositional Sociology 2001American Apartheid