Individual Behavior
Individual Behavior & Integration
The Next 40 Years of Fair Housing Conference
University of Illinois at Chicago
October 7, 2008
Moderator:
Aurie Pennick, Field Foundation
Panelists:
Prof. Camille Charles, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Maria Krysan, University of Illinois at Chicago
Prof. Karyn Lacy, University of Michigan
10:53- Next panel was started by Aurie Pennick. Ms. Pennick had the experience of hearing Dr. King when he came to Chicago and said that Chicago is the most segregated city in the country. There has be much progress in dismantling in racial segregation in this country; however, as the panelist will describe, racial segregation is still happening in Chicago. She will introduce the speakers.
10:55- Camille Charles, University of Pennsylvania is the author of Won’t you be my neighbor? Maria Krysan, UIC and focuses on racial segregation. Karen Lacy is an associate professor at the University of Michigan.
Prof. Camille Charles: Next 40 Years Presentation
10:56- Camille Charles began speaking. She wants to situate our understanding of race and racial segregation with in the context of the United States more generally. She started with a quote of WEB Dubois and talks about the color line which divides neighborhoods, and this is still true 100 years later and holds true to Latinos, Asians, as well as blacks and whites.
10:58- Trend wise a decline in segregation has taken place of overtime, but we can also think about social isolation within neighborhoods. In Chicago, for 2000, the average neighborhood for blacks was 72% black. The assumption is that once you see a decline in isolation is accounted for by increased exposure to whites. There is a large amount of segregation. Latinos experience less segregation, but becoming more racially isolated from whites, when we want to see less racial isolation. The average Latino lives in a neighborhood that is 38% white.
11:00- Neighborhood racial composition preferences continue negative racial stereotypes and causes conflicting views on the sources of persisting racial inequality. There are also meaningful differences in terms of how people think about inequality. Blacks see inequality as structural and whites see it as a fault of the group themselves. Continued perceptions of social distance where you think people that look like you are more like you than people that don’t. Blacks are the group that all other racial groups feel the most socially distant.
11:02- Dr. Chares did research in Los Angeles and had people draw their ideal neighborhood. Whites are the only racial group where their neighborhoods were over 50% the same race. Blacks are the group the most likely to be excluded from neighborhoods. Blacks are the least likely to exclude other groups from their neighborhoods.
11:05- how do racial attitudes shape preferences? How does immigration play into this analysis? There are traditionally three explanations for neighborhood racial composition preferences: classism, ethnocentrism, and prejudice, which includes perceived racial group threat. Preferences for racial composition are primarily a function of racial prejudice, and this is highest for whites. Classism and ethnocentrism are marginally influential, except for Asians, where it does matter. Whites preferences for integration are most well understood in terms of prejudice.
11:08- Perceptions of whites as “tending to discriminate” negatively impacts nonwhites’ preferences for white neighbors. Immigration complications this. For Latinos, attitudes don’t matter for racial composition preferences until they have been here for 5 years, when they match the native born Latinos. Latino immigrants and Asians the language they speak is important and racial attitudes then play a larger role. Koreans are two or three times more resistant than other groups. For Asians, class did matter. Immigrations are trying to make a better lives for themselves economically, which is possibly why classism plays a role.
11:12- Where do we go from here? Race matters over and above objective differences in social class characteristics. Race matters more than any other demographic factors. Strategies that get communities to work together toward common goals were helpful. Aggressive public relations campaigns (value added by diversity, desirable neighborhood amenities) can be useful so white communities might show people of color to alter perceptions of communities. Affirmative marketing can be an important step to recreate the perception. Enforcement of antidiscrimination laws and improve these attitudes. By enforcing these laws, this can go a long way in breaking down segregation.
Prof. Maria Krysan: Next 40 Years
11:17- Dr. Krysan began by describing her research in racial segregation, which she has done for ten years. If residents of different racial and ethnic communities within their local communities, then the patterns of knowledge or lack of knowledge can be a barrier for improving racial segregation. She is focusing on three questions: Do blacks, whites, and Latinos have different community blind spots? Do blacks, whites and Latinos of the same social, economic and geographic background have difference blind spots? Does community racial and ethnic composition predict blind spots?
11:20- This data comes from the 2005 Chicago Area Study, which was a face to face study. They gave respondents a map and had them mark all the communities that you don’t know anything about. Specifically, for Whites, there were 14 areas that one third of the respondents, and most of them included minority majority areas. Blacks had similar results with many white majority neighborhoods as ones they didn’t know anything about. Latinos had 28 blind spots, and the communities that were not blind spots were neighborhoods with a high percentage of Latinos.
11:24- There were no community blind spots in comparison between whites and blacks. There were quite a few of communities that overlapped between whites and Latinos. If we hold constant social, economic, and geographic backgrounds, these blind spots still persist. Race does still persist as a reason why these communities are blind spots. African Americans blind spots are far fewer and smaller than white blind spots. Once we control for background characteristics, the big differences between Whites and Latinos, and mostly we find that whites have the blind spots, not the Latinos.
11:27- The last question is are the blind spots, racial blind spots? Does percent black in a community predict whether people know about certain neighborhoods. For African-Americans, percent white is non significant. The greater the percent Latino, the more likely African-Americans are more likely to know about it. For Latinos, the higher percentage of whites, the more likely they are to know about it.
11:29- we find that community knowledge may be a barrier to residential integration. Currently integrated communities must have demand from all groups; but whites are relatively less knowledgeable about integrated black-white communities and white-Latino communities. Latinos appare to be knowledgeable about many difference kinds of communities-more so than whites- but only after controlling for background characteristics. African Americans have relatively few blind spots. Real estate agents and clients tend to be race matched so that impedes integration.
11:32- We need to overcome blind spots. There are a variety of organizations that we will hear about later today that are increasing knowledge.
11:33- Dr. Lacy did a study in Washington DC suburbs of Prince Georges county (predominately black) and Fairfax County (predominately white). The research question is to what degree does middle class status protect blacks from discrimination in the housing market, and she did an ethnography of middle class blacks.
Prof. Karyn Lacy: Next 40 Years Presentation
11:35- She interviewed middle class blacks on how they found their homes. She conducted 30 in-depth interviews. The median income for her sample was $72,000. She posed as a homebuyer herself to see how real estate agents respond to blacks home seekers.
11:37- Blacks tended to play down racism as a factor. They used strong language to signal that they are middle class home seekers, not poor black people. She told an example of a person who went to view a model home in a white subdivision. She was first asked by the realtor if the house was in her price range. The realtor wanted to know her income before she would show the house. The person felt as though she experienced this because she was poorly dressed, not because she was black. The person referenced classism, rather than racism. Respondents held the belief that class trumps race. The encounter was not viewed as a racial one.
11:41- In another example, a black man was searching for a home with his wife who started with an agent. The agent was discouraging to the couple. This was one of the few respondents who cited racial discrimination as playing a role in the lives of middle class blacks.
11:43- She posed as a homeowner and went to a realtor office. She said that she was interested in purchasing a new house in the predominately white neighborhood. The realtor tried to make her go for older subdivision. The realtor said that there are no new homes in this area, in the price range, but she had not given the realtor a price range. This helps to explain why so many middle class blacks in this study didn’t note racism.
11:47- It was hard to see what was happening because the realtor did offer advice and was nice. What are the take home points? The middle class blacks realize housing discrimination but don’t feel as though their housing options are severely limited by it. Class position provides some resources to counter housing discrimination. This allows for some blacks to grapple with racial segregation by using language that signals that they are middle class, but it takes resources to be able to do that. Findings inform policies and programs designed to encourage residential integration.
11:50- Even though blacks in this study have cultural resources, this is frustrating that it takes blacks more work to get a home that they really want. We need to look at the entire process to see how and if blacks end up with a house that they want. We need to also look at what’s happening that has produced the declines in racial segregation. We need to think about what is going on in suburbia with model homes and how can we understand that.
11:52- Comment: Dr. Charles, we need to think about choice and how our choices are constrained in terms of larger American ideology on race that are based in prejudice. Minority group choices are constrained by how much harder we have to work to get the same outcome that is offered up willingly if you are white. It is important that we are always conscious in thinking about how choices are constrained. Affluent minorities fall into a state of denial about their choices.
11:55- Question: Is there any information on what can entice people to overcome fear of negative interaction by moving to a white neighborhoods? Answer: Affirmative marketing can really help by at least giving the perception that they are open to minorities. There are black families who make a choice to live in a white neighborhood if the school is good in the area and is safe, such amenities help minorities make that choice. However, these families have to push to make sure their kids get good quality education. We assume that hostility is a given in predominately white neighborhoods, but actually hostility may not be occurring as much as it used to. She also saw that people in the neighborhoods were not welcoming in suburban communities. The cost of the housing is huge factor as well, people can go to a black community with a nicer house than live in a smaller house in a white neighborhood.
12:03- Labels are something that we need to do as fair housing people to educate and promote the positive of “color” label. The color label is not a positive way to think about race. This can be detrimental and has become an accepted way of defining things.
End of session.
