Suchergebnisse

Patterns of residential segregation by income are examined for a sample of incorporated suburban municipalities in 31 SMSAs. Using a variety of indicators of community fiscal wealth and government service levels, the observed patterns of residential segregation are linked to patterns of fiscal inequality. Evidence is presented documenting the extent of benefits of the present system of suburban fragmentation to the small number of the very richest communities and families in suburbs. The costs of this system are seen to fall more heavily on the poor and middle-income families.

ABSTRACTA wide variety of models exist seeking to explain variation in the level of suburban government activity. Alternative models stress concepts of local stratification and discrimination, the structure of local decision‐making, ecological position, and public choice, each of which suggests varying hypotheses about which suburbs spend more and which less. In this paper we summarize and evaluate the relative strength of each of these alternative models, and propose major directions for future research.

Variation in the level of suburban government activity has been explained in several models, each approaching suburban government & budget making from ecological, stratification, & historical public choice perspectives, & each hypothesizing about which suburbs spend more & which less. The serviceability of these models is examined using regression analysis of municipal expenditures of 880 US suburbs selected from the 1972 Census of Governments. The analysis used community variables such as density, business activity, government structure, functional responsibility (ie, police, fire, parks, sanitation), median income, central city age, & % black. Variance in municipal expenditures (per capita) were most significantly explained through economic & responsibility functions. 2 Tables. Modified HA.

We study the residential patterns of blacks and mulattoes in 10 Southern cities in 1880 and 1920. Researchers have documented the salience of social differences among African Americans in this period, partly related to mulattoes' higher occupational status. Did these differences result in clustering of these two groups in different neighborhoods, and were mulattoes less separated from whites? If so, did the differences diminish in these decades after Reconstruction due a Jim Crow system that did not distinguish between blacks and mulattoes? We use geocoded census microdata for 1880 and 1920 to address these questions. Segregation between whites and both blacks and mulattoes was already high in 1880, especially at a fine spatial scale, and it increased sharply by 1920. In this respect, whites did not distinguish between these two groups. However, blacks and mulattoes were quite segregated from one another in 1880, and even more so by 1920. This pattern did not result from mulattoes' moderately higher-class position. Hence, as the color line between whites and all non-whites was becoming harder, blacks and mulattoes were separating further from each other. Understanding what led to this pattern remains a key question about racial identities and racialization in the early twentieth century.

This study adds to a growing body of research on the contextual determinants of marriage choice and provides new information on ethnic intermarriage in the late 19th century. Census microdata for 66 major cities in 1880 are used to estimate a multilevel model of assortative mating of Irish, German, and British immigrants. Results demonstrate that marital choices made by individuals are significantly affected by the local urban context where they live. In addition, the very large disparity in endogamy between the British and other groups can mainly be attributed to the smaller size of the British population in these cities.

We provide new evidence on two hypotheses associated with the model of the city as a growth machine. The first posits the pervasive influence of pro‐growth coalitions in local governing regimes. The second asserts that growth regimes make a difference to local development. Census data from 1980 and 1990 and data from a survey of community leaders in nearly 300 incorporated suburban communities are used to assess these hypotheses. In support of the first hypothesis, we find that pro‐growth coalitions represent by far the most common type of political regime, but are less likely to dominate the local politics of higher‐status communities. The type of regime prevailing in a suburb has a significant impact on the growth‐related policies adopted by the community. However, there is no evidence that either growth policy or the type of political regime significantly influences changes in population size, racial composition, or median income of these suburbs. These results cast doubt on the assumed efficacy of local growth policies and raise additional questions regarding the impacts of extra‐local factors in the development of suburban municipalities.

Do minorities live in higher crime neighborhoods because they lack the class resources to live in better areas, or do racial differences in exposure to crime persist even for blacks and whites of comparable backgrounds? Does living in the suburbs reduce exposure to crime equally for whites and blacks? This study analyzes the determinants of living in local areas with higher or lower crime rates in the Cleveland metropolitan region in 1990. Multivariate models are estimated for whites and blacks, with separate models for city and suburban residents and for violent crime and property crime. Within the city, exposure to both types of crime is strongly related to socioeconomic status for both races, but there are also strong independent effects of race on exposure to violent crime. In the suburbs, whites are concentrated in communities with low crime rates regardless of their social class. There are substantial class differences among suburban nonwhites, but even afluent blacks live in places with a higher violent crime rate than do poor whites.