The Neighborhood Effect on Racial Perception

• In Event: Spatial Mechanisms in Social Life

Abstract

How does residential context influence patterns of racial classification? While residential context is known to have a significant influence on perception— from perceptions of crime (Sampson & Raudenbush 2004) to perceptions of disorder (Quillian & Pager 2001)—little is known about the impact of neighborhoods on the perception of race. This study investigates the conditions under which racial misclassification occurs, exploring how residential context shapes the heuristics of racial appraisal.

By linking traffic citations to voter records, I construct a unique longitudinal dataset containing both self-identified and officer-classified race for motorists in Florida, as well as the residential characteristics of the classifying officer. Leveraging a causal identification strategy that tracks officers who move from one neighborhood to another, I find that moves to Hispanic neighborhoods significantly decrease the rate at which White officers "whiten" Hispanic motorists. Additionally, I find that exposure to local homicides near an officer's home significantly reduces the likelihood of classifying Hispanic motorists as White, suggesting that residentially proximate violence triggers a contraction of group boundaries. The findings have implications for the measurement of inequality and our understanding of the cognitive, spatial, and material nature of racial boundaries

Author

• Samuel Donahue, Harvard University