Seattle Rental Ad Texts and Processes of Segregation

• In Event: 4161 - Uncovering the Ordinary: Everyday Mechanisms of Racism and Resistance

Abstract

Recent work on racial residential segregation shows how individuals' perceptions of neighborhoods influence their housing choices and therefore contribute to the reproduction of segregation. Rental housing advertisements are a form of public discourse about neighborhoods which both influence and reflect those perceptions. We use n-gram regression and Structural Topic Models (STM) to investigate whether and how rental listings from the Seattle metropolitan area Craigslist page differ in association with neighborhood racial proportion. White neighborhoods are associated with words like 'restaurant' and 'charming,' while Black neighborhoods are connected to security terms like 'gated' or transportation with terms like 'light rail'. STM and qualitative analysis shows that listings from White neighborhoods emphasize connections to neighborhood history and culture, while listings from non-white, especially Black, neighborhoods are sundered from their surroundings. Finally, analysis of security discourse reveals that not only is language about security more common in less White neighborhoods, but administrative data show that actual security systems are less common. Without mentioning race, these listings reveal racialized neighborhood perceptions which impact neighborhood attainment, contributing to housing segregation.

Authors

• Ian Kennedy, University of Washington

• Amandalynne Paullada, University of Washington, Linguistics

• Christian L. Hess, University of Washington

• Sarah Chasins, University of California at Berkeley, Computer Science