MICRO-SEGREGATION IN HOUSTON

Micro-Segregation in Houston

Peiyu Noah Tian

Professor Meikle

SOC 575: Sociology of Community

29 March 2011

Micro-Segregation in Houston

Introduction

Segregation has been an important issue for the United States since its formation in the late 18th century; the United States has attracted immigrants from country in the world. Moreover, as the United States becomes more multiethnic and multiracial, it is even more important to understand the reasons and ramifications for racial segregation. For example, a large number of different researchers have reported that racial segregation leads to minority deficits in many areas, including poverty, educational attainment, infant mortality, and employment, among others (Acevedo-Garcia et al. 2003; Hattery and Smith 2007; Peterson et al. 2006). The issue of segregation is important to researchers, policy makers, and scholars because of its multifaceted implications and consequences that is why this has been selected as the topic, to identify segregation issue at Huston, Texas. As segregation may create space for poverty, neighborhood spillover and may take particular community in isolation.

Though many identify segregation solely with racial segregation, it can exist in a number of different forms; for example, income segregation and residential segregation. Analyses have demonstrated that income inequality and segregation are related to residential segregation, and that this expression of income inequality reinforces negative effects of population health (Blau 1997; Kaplan et al. 1996; Massey et al. 1991; Ross et al. 2000). Certainly, there is an unmistakable relationship between residence and race; studies have documented distinct racial and ethnic residential location patterns in the United States (Iceland 2004; Logan et al. 2004; Massey and Denton 1987; Sorensen et al. 1975). Despite the multitude of evidence that suggests negative outcomes, Hattery and Smith (2007:55) found that “…for African Americas living in integrated or predominately white counties is significantly correlated with lower levels of poverty.” Because segregation is different depending on geography, it is important to examine specific areas.

Investigators have illustrated significant trends among different racial segregations with respect to residence. In Frey and Myers's (2005) examination, they considered 318 metropolitan areas as well as 1220 places with populations greater than 25,000 in 2000 in order to measure segregation across block-groups. They found significant trends as: declining Black-white segregation for most metropolitan areas and cities, increasing Hispanic-white segregation in most metropolitan areas, and declining Asian-white segregation in most metropolitan areas. Lee et al. (2008:785) found that “racial variations are responsible for higher net micro-segregation in Northeastern and Southern metro areas.” Cities like Houston, in which island cities exist, present interesting exemplifiers of this micro-segregation, as it is possible to isolate residential segregation data in specific areas within Houston. The purpose of this paper is to determine the existence of micro-segregation according to Lee et al.'s (2008) definition by considering compositional data in Houston, Texas and the three of its island cities—Bellaire, Southside Place, and West University Place.

Variables

This study will attempt to analyze trends in micro-segregation in island cities to distinguish the existence of segregation patterns in Houston, compositional data is utilized. The definition of micro-segregation is ...