Following the Crowd: The Role of Social Ties in Residential Decision-Making among Middle-Class Families

• In Event: 1264 - Persistent and Evolving Patterns of Discrimination in the Housing Market

Abstract

The perpetuation of residential segregation in the U.S.—with its well-documented effects on children’s life chances—remains an enduring interest for sociologists. In light of this, it is surprising that relatively little research has attempted to explicate the processes that lead to the distribution of families across segregated neighborhoods. Moreover, the literature that does exist is largely comprised of studies of poor families; very little is known about their middle-class counterparts. In this paper, we draw on qualitative interviews with 57 black and white middle class families who live in the city or suburbs of a northeastern metropolitan area to illuminate the process of neighborhood selection. We find remarkable consistency across these families. Our results highlight the role of informal social ties in pulling families towards specific neighborhoods. These ties were conduits for information and evaluation, with coworkers, friends, and acquaintances vouching for the “quality” of particular destinations, and thereby routing families into those neighborhoods. Our results therefore point to the role of network ties in perpetuating residential segregation, and call into question assumptions about the nature of residential decision-making among middle-class families.

Authors

• Elliot Weininger, SUNY College at Brockport

• Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania