Residential Segregation and Social Integration: Do Blacks and Whites Differ?

Joongbaeck Kim, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Hyeyoung Woo, Portland State University

While it is well known that racial residential segregation affects social behaviors and various outcomes of individuals, research about the relationship between residential segregation and social integration is limited. We examine how residential segregation is associated with three types of social integration: formal, informal, and advisory integration, and whether the associations differ for Blacks and Whites using data from the Americans’ Changing Lives survey. Our results show that residential segregation is negatively associated with advisory integration for both Blacks and Whites. It also predicts lower levels of formal integration for Blacks, but not for Whites. We did not find significant relationships between residential segregation and informal integration. Interestingly, the sizable associations between residential segregation and formal and advisory integration remain significant even after controlling for the prevalence of Blacks and poverty in counties. It suggests that the racial distribution is a substantial determinant of social relationships especially for Blacks.