Distributional studies alone cannot explain the processes producing environmental racism.

Evidence

As with most statistical research, studies that chart the disproportionate distribution of waste facilities simply establish correlations, not causation. Some commentators therefore question whether the maldistribution of environmental hazards is appropriately attributed to racism or other injustice or to a more benign explanation. Among the alternative explanations offered to explain the racial disparities are (1) that the social status or lifestyle choices of certain racial and ethnic groups result in maldistribution and (2) that maldistribution is a result of the operation of the “free market.” … By accepting the existing social structure and practices as the “baseline” for causal analysis, these explanations tend to obscure the injustice of current distributions and dangerously suggest that the inequitable outcomes are a natural and inevitable feature of social and economic life. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 308 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Empirical distributional studies only scratch the surface of environmental racism’s causes — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 292; Stage-by-stage siting analysis can reveal racism when discrete decisions look neutral.; Correlational studies cannot by themselves establish that environmental racism siting is causal — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 308

Related

• Correlational studies cannot by themselves establish that environmental racism siting is causal (similarity 0.95)
• National studies already show enough racial disparity in toxic siting to demand causal investigation (similarity 0.92)
• Empirical distributional studies only scratch the surface of environmental racism’s causes (similarity 0.92)
• Environmental racism is a symptom of broader ongoing racial discrimination (similarity 0.84)
• Analyzing environmental racism requires structural, procedural, and normative frames jointly (similarity 0.84)
• The single-bad-actor search obscures structural causes of environmental racism (similarity 0.84)
• Market-dynamics explanations for siting disparities lack conclusive empirical support (similarity 0.84)
• Demographic change over time does not exonerate facility siting from racism (similarity 0.83)
• Descriptive siting causation cannot answer what makes an outcome racist (similarity 0.82)
• Contradictory siting studies differed mainly over geographic unit and comparison scope (similarity 0.81)
• Post-siting market dynamics cannot explain current disproportionate siting patterns (similarity 0.80)
• Race predicts environmental hazard exposure better than income does (similarity 0.79)
• Environmental injustice persists without racist intent because bias is structurally embedded (similarity 0.79)
• Changing the geographic unit of analysis can make racial siting disparities statistically vanish (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Correlational studies cannot by themselves establish that environmental racism siting is causal #corroborates (0.92) — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 308