Racial Hierarchy and Racial Transition among Ascending Neighborhoods

• In Event: 189 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Gentrification and Neighborhood Change

Abstract

In this article, we examine the role of neighborhood racial composition in neighborhood socioeconomic improvement. First, we investigate whether neighborhood racial composition predicts the likelihood of a neighborhood experiencing socioeconomic ascent. Drawing on Census and American Community Survey (ACS) data from 1990 to 2008-12, we find that minority, particularly black, neighborhoods were less likely to experience ascent than white neighborhoods. Second, we explore the degree to which racial transition occurs alongside socioeconomic ascent. We find that the likelihood of transition from majority minority to majority white is more common among neighborhoods that ascended than among those that did not. We then draw on Census and ACS microdata from 1990 to 2008-12 to investigate households’ socioeconomic status (SES) in neighborhoods that experienced ascent according to householder race and the year the household moved in. These analyses provide evidence on whether socioeconomic ascent occurred due to the in-migration of higher-SES households or improvements in the fortunes of longtime residents, and whether in-movers were the same race as the neighborhood majority prior to ascent. We find that in majority black and majority Hispanic neighborhoods, ascent occurs largely due to the in-migration of higher-SES white households. Overall, we argue that the process of neighborhood socioeconomic improvement perpetuates neighborhood racial hierarchy. Improvements accrue to minority neighborhoods less frequently than to white neighborhoods, and when socioeconomic ascent does occur in minority neighborhoods, racial transition occurs. Future analyses will continue to investigate the complex demographic processes underlying socioeconomic ascent.

Authors

• Ann Owens, University of Southern California

• Jennifer Candipan, University of Southern California