New research led by Daniel Lichter, the Perris Family Professor in the department of policy analysis and management and a professor of sociology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, finds that neighborhood racial segregation has declined in America, particularly in major cities. But the study founds that segregation has increased on the community or suburban level.
Professor Lichter and his team examined U.S. Census data in 1990 and 2010. They found an increased level of racial segregation in suburban communities and that many suburbs are becoming racially homogenous.
“One of our major findings is that suburban communities are becoming more segregated from each other,” Professor Lichter said. And racial segregation between Blacks and Whites was the most pronounced. “If segregation is our measure,” Dr. Lichter added, “we have a long way to go before we are truly a post-racial society.”
The study, “Toward a New Macro-Segregation? Decomposing Segregation Within and Between Metropolitan Cities and Suburbs,” was co-authored by Domenico Parisi and Michael C. Taquino of Mississippi State University. It appears in the August issue of American Sociological Review. The research may be accessed here.
