Residential Segregation on Long Island: The Role of Race and Social Networks

• In Event: 258 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Paper Session. Race, Class and Spatial Justice

Abstract

Abstract for ASA 2015 – Jeanne Kimpel, Ph.D.
Residential Segregation on Long Island: The Role of Race and Social Networks



This paper examines the ways social networks operate for middle- and upper- middle class blacks and whites in the housing search, and subsequently shape residential patterns. This research is a qualitative investigative study implemented through the use of 32 semi-structured, in-depth interviews of middle- and upper-middle-class blacks and whites who had purchased their homes in the highly residentially segregated metropolitan area of Long Island, New York. Specifically, this research is guided by questions addressing the experiences middle class blacks and whites had while searching for a home, how the homeowner’s race/ethnicity shapes his or her social networks, as well as, in what ways it affects the outcome of the housing search. The main arguments put forth in previous research to explain racial and ethnic residential segregation in the U.S. include: socioeconomic differences, preferences, racial prejudice, and housing-market discrimination. This study examines ways in which, during the process of searching for a home, social networks are mechanisms through which race operates, therefore contributing to the perpetuation of residential segregation. This paper uncovers racial differences in the way the subjects rely on racially homogeneous as well as cross-racial ties, when searching for a home, and their subsequent residential outcomes.

Author

• Jeanne E. Kimpel, Hofstra University