Neighborhood integration sways racial attitudes  

For Blacks and Whites, living together in racially integrated neighborhoods
helps to improve attitudes about one another and behavior toward other races,
according to researchers in the recent book, "Race & Place," published by
Cambridge University Press. However, the scholars show that both groups still
differ in how they view race-related issues.  

In the book, researchers present their analysis of data from 1992 surveys of
1,200 Blacks and Whites in Detroit and its suburbs, comparing their findings to
data from earlier surveys conducted since the 1960s. They strove to determine
the impact of neighborhood integration on individual attitudes toward those of
a different race, compared with the attitudes of those who reside in
neighborhoods, which are predominantly White or Black.  

Dr. Susan Welch, Penn State professor of political science and book co-author,
says, "The 1990s saw a reversal in the decades-long trend of increasing
residential segregation. Slowly, more areas of American cities are beginning to
have both Black and White residents. Most neighborhoods are still segregated,
of course, and these patterns influence almost everything else about race
relations. Neighborhoods influence individuals' choice of friends, casual
contacts, views about public policies, and many other attributes relevant to
interracial relationships. Thus, changes in these patterns are very important.  

"In our analysis, having neighborhoods with some representation of other races
seemed to lessen perceived racial tensions. Over time, we found that Whites in
Detroit became more likely to approve of Blacks as neighbors and were less
likely to express racist attitudes," she says. "Compared with a quarter of a
century earlier, Blacks and Whites in Detroit in the 1990s saw more of one
another by living and working in the city and in mixed-race suburbs."  

Other signs of the state of interracial relations, the book shows, are findings
which show casual interracial contact has increased considerably, as has the
incidence of interracial marriage and mixed-race children. Racial attitudes,
however, were the main interest of the authors.  

Researchers compared attitudes of residents living in both the city and its
suburbs; attitudes of those living in nearly all-White or all-Black
neighborhoods; and those in mixed-race neighborhoods.  

For both races, living in integrated neighborhoods resulted in higher
percentages of residents who perceived a decline in racism. In largely White
neighborhoods, 47 percent of Blacks perceived less racism in 1992 than five
years earlier, while only 26 percent of Whites perceived less racism. In
largely Black neighborhoods, 33 percent of Blacks perceived less racism in 1992
than five years earlier, while 40 percent of Whites perceived less racism.
However, in mixed-race neighborhoods, 44 percent of Blacks and 36 percent of
Whites perceived less racism in 1992 than five years earlier. As well, both
Blacks and Whites living in mixed-race neighborhoods were more aware of
discrimination than were their counterparts in segregated neighborhoods.  

"Most Blacks and Whites in the Detroit area still lived in neighborhoods with
minimal representation of the other race," Welch notes. The authors note that,
in the overall picture, Black and White views of discrimination and its effect
on everyday life still varied considerably.  

"Black residents still see evidence of racism in their own day-to-day
experiences and encounters with Whites and institutions," Welch says. "Many
Blacks focus on the limitations of civil rights laws and Supreme Court cases in
their experiences. While they did not dismiss the importance of changes in
public policy and laws, they still perceived evidence of racism in their own
day-to-day experiences.  

"On the other hand, most White interviewees believed that much progress has
been made in race relations, pointing to changes in the legal and legislative
arenas and a drop in open discrimination and in symbols of discrimination and
racism," she adds. "They cite a decline in incidences of violence against
Blacks, the disappearance of racially targeted zoning laws and restrictive
covenants, laws and court decisions against discrimination in housing and
lending, and African Americans who are successful in sports, entertainment,
politics, education, and business. Whites are less likely to see the
all-too-frequent daily examples of racism that their Black counterparts see."  

The 2001 book's co-authors are Lee Sigelman of George Washington University,
Michael Combs of the University of Nebraska and Timothy Bledsoe of Wayne State
University, in addition to Welch, who is dean of Penn State's College of the
Liberal Arts.  

Researchers also surveyed all residents' perceptions of the services they
receive from their local government, including Black and White suburbanites and
their city counterparts. The analysis found that Blacks and Whites in the city
are united in their dissatisfaction with local services, particularly those
affecting schools and crime. In comparison, Blacks and Whites in the suburbs
are more satisfied with public services.  

The attitudes of Blacks and Whites toward the services their cities provide are
related more to where individuals live than their race. Black and White
suburbanites share generally positive attitudes toward their city governments,
and Black and White city residents share negative views. Ironically, in
Detroit, the replacement of a White-led city government with a Black-led one
led to similar attitudes among Blacks and Whites toward the police, not by
increasing the satisfaction of Blacks but by decreasing the satisfaction of
Whites.  

"The similar beliefs suggest that inadequate or unfair police and education
services are not only a matter of race and discrimination by prejudiced or
unsympathetic officials. Like their White counterparts, Black elected officials
do not control the resources necessary to improve quality of service or boost
quality-of-life indicators such as school retention ratios or in-wedlock
births." Welch says.  

The researchers selected Detroit for analysis because of its history as one of
the most segregated cities in America and a city not yet dramatically changed
by immigration in 1992. As well, Detroit has been regularly surveyed since the
1960s, allowing for comparisons spanning a quarter century. But as many
American cities continue to change more rapidly with growing numbers of Asians
and Hispanics, the researchers suggest that "neighborhood integration can have
a positive, though modest, effect on race relations, giving hope to a real
difference in America's race relations in the near future."  

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-09/ps-nis090502.php  

________  

Race and Place: Race Relations in an American City (Cambridge Studies in
Political Psychology and Public Opinion)
by Susan Welch (Editor), Lee Sigelman, Timothy Bledsoe, Michael Combs
Paperback: 160 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.52 x 8.78 x 6.02
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr (Pap Txt); ISBN: 0521796555; (October 2001)
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521796555/darwinanddarwini/
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521796555/humannaturecom/  

      A striking but little recognized change in race relations during the past
two decades has seen the declining levels of racial segregation in most of
America's major metropolitan areas. More American cities are beginning to have
black and white residents. An integral component of this decline in residential
segregation has been the large-scale movement of blacks to the suburbs. This
book focuses on the attitudes and behavior of African Americans and whites.
Will whites' attitudes about blacks and blacks' attitudes toward whites change
if they are living in integrated neighborhoods rather than apart from one
another? Are black suburbanites more likely to share the views of their fellow
white suburbanites or of their fellow African Americans in the central city?
Will residential integration and new patterns of race in the suburbs break down
divisions between blacks and whites in their views of local public services?  

      Contents  

      1. Introduction: race and residence; 2. Race relations in Detroit,
1968-1992; 3. Black-White social interaction; 4. Perceptions of racial
discriminations; 5. Black racial solidarity; 6. White racial prejudice; 7.
Opinions on urban issues - the schools and the police; 8. Conclusions.  

Race & Place
http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/afam/raceandplace/