Racial Composition and Neighborhood Evaluation

While the negative association between racial composition and neighborhood evaluation for white residents is fairly well established, there is less consensus on what are the precise mechanisms which produce this relationship. This paper examines three possible mechanisms in this regard: status loss, perceived decline in the quality of neighborhood services, and fears about personal safety. A survey of nine neighborhoods with different racial mixes finds evidence for the direct effect of racial composition on white residents’ evaluations through status loss and its indirect effect through fears about personal safety, but no support for the notion that the racial composition effect operates through negative perceptions of neighborhood public services. Alternatively, having larger numbers of blacks in a neighborhood has a negative effect on black residents through its association with a perception of lower quality public services: at the same time, higher numbers of blacks in a neighborhood has a positive effect on black residents’ evaluations of the area, once the association between racial composition and perception of quality of services is taken into account. This positive effect operates directly and also indirectly, through its association with perceptions of greater safety. The implications of these findings for the future of integrated neighborhoods are discussed.