Living Diversity: Statistical and Social Integration in a Racially Diverse Neighborhood

• In Event: 41054 - Urban Sociology and the Legacy of Chicago

Abstract

This paper examines a key assumption in the study of diverse neighborhoods: that spatial integration is an indicator of social integration. We care about the racial composition of neighborhoods because physical proximity might lead to social contact across the color line, even though we know that is not always the case. The paper is based on more than three years of fieldwork in Rogers Park, a racially diverse neighborhood in Chicago. Do people of different racial backgrounds live next to each other? And how do they interact with each other? To answer these questions, I compare how diversity looks on the ground and how it looks based on Census data and GIS maps. I find that there is an overlap between spatial integration, as measured by quantitative data, and social integration, as experienced by people as they interact with each other and move through public spaces. Asian American, Black, Latino, and White residents live near each other and coexist peacefully. However, interracial interactions are superficial and sexualized catcalls and racism occasionally disrupt this civil atmosphere. Personal characteristics—including race, class, and gender—shape residents’ interactions and where they feel comfortable in this community. The paper concludes that how people experience diversity in a neighborhood depends on who they are and where we look. These findings have implications for our understanding of how prejudice is expressed in diverse settings and complicate the notion of civility.

Author

• Denia Garcia, University of Wisconsin-Madison