White-Latino Residential Attainments and Segregation in Six Cities: Assessing the Role of Micro-Level Factors

• In Event: 135 - Section on Sociology of Population Paper Session. Race/Ethnicity and Population Dynamics

Abstract

This study examines the residential outcomes of Latinos in major metropolitan areas using new methods to connect micro-level analyses of residential attainments to overall patterns of segregation. Drawing on new formulations of standard measures of evenness, I conduct micro-level multivariate analyses using restricted-use census microdata to predict segregation-relevant neighborhood outcomes for individuals by race. This approach allows me to use standardization and components analysis to quantitatively assess the separate contributions that differences in social characteristics and differences in rates of return make towards determining the overall the level of White-Latino segregation.

I find that for Latinos, acculturation and gains in socioeconomic status are associated with greater residential contact with Whites, in agreement with spatial assimilation theory, which promotes lower segregation. However, my standardization and components analyses reveals that a substantial portion of White-Latino disparities in residential contact with Whites can be attributed to differences in rates of return; that is White-Latino differences in the ability to translate social and economic gains into more residential contact with Whites. This can be interpreted as the role of discrimination which is emphasized by place stratification theory. I conclude that while Latinos make gains in residential outcomes that reduce segregation by attaining parity with Whites on social characteristics as spatial assimilation theory would predict, a substantial disparity will persist as Latinos cannot translate those gains into greater contact with Whites at the rate that Whites can. This means that White-Latino segregation remains substantial even when groups are equalized on social and economic characteristics.

Authors

• Amber Fox Crowell, Texas A&M University

• Mark Fossett, Texas A&M University