Segregation persisting above 60 signals involuntary discrimination

Evidence

In general, segregation levels rarely exceed a dissimilarity value of 60 in the absence of involuntary factors; and they are almost never sustained at such high levels for any length of time. As immigrant generations succeed one another and socioeconomic status rises, the high levels of residential segregation that are created through rapid immigration tend to dissipate. Even in Los Angeles, the Hispanic-white dissimilarity index dropped markedly as one moves from the foreign-born to the native-born generation, and from low to high income groups (Denton and Massey, 1988). In urban areas of most countries, therefore, dissimilarities for minorities range from 0 to about 60, depending on a group’s … Whenever residential dissimilarity persists at levels above 60 for any length of time, it usually involves involuntary forces of one sort or another. Studies done in the United States show that African Americans continue to experience remarkably high levels of discrimination in real estate markets, banking, and insurance, and that as potential neighbors they remain objects of considerable prejudice by whites, leading to a range of avoidance behaviors (Massey and Denton, 1993). As a result, black-white residential dissimilarities in US urban areas generally range upward from 60, and unlike those of other ethnic minorities, they do not fall as socioeconomic status rises (Denton and Massey, 1988). Moreover, black residential segregation has displayed little tendency to decline over time, except in places where the number of blacks is so small that complete desegregation yields little interracial mixing (Krivo and Kaufman, 1999). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2426 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

A convenient rule of thumb for interpreting the dissimilarity index is that values under 30 are “low”; those from 30 to 60 are “moderate”; and those above 60 are “high” (Kantrowitz, 1973). In general, voluntary processes of segregation yield index values in the low-to-moderate range. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2422 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

At the center of neoliberal commitment is the principle that people should be free to express and exercise their preferences as they see fit. Given that preference expression throughout modernity was to greater or lesser degree fashioned and formulated in racial terms, preference expression and its products continue to carry racial weight. Cultural preferences, for instance, remain to a considerable extent racially predictable, even if internally various and overdetermined. The preference of the overwhelming percentage of whites in the US to live exclusively among themselves, as I indicated in Chapter 3 (and the same could be said about contemporary South Africa, the Netherlands, France, even Britain, not to mention Australia and Canada), exemplifies just this point. At the interfaces, cultural preference expression can be the cause of tension, if not friction. It thus requires some massaging, if not persistent management, at the very least in the interests of extending power. And power, wherever it manifests racially, remains structurally white, as I have been arguing throughout. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1783 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Spatial and epistemic segregation persisted despite intimate daily contact. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1556; A dissimilarity index above 60 signals involuntary segregation, not voluntary clustering — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2426; Voluntary Black separation differs fundamentally from discriminatory segregation — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 872 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• A dissimilarity index above 60 signals involuntary segregation, not voluntary clustering #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2426
• Voluntary segregation processes rarely produce high dissimilarity index values. #corroborates (0.94) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2422
• Racially patterned residential preferences reproduce segregation without overt racism #complicates (0.88) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1783
• Mild individual in-group preference generates macro segregation spontaneously #complicates (0.86) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 383
• Complete segregation emerges even when individuals only mildly avoid being a minority #complicates (0.80) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 824