Suburban Change and Persistence

A method for the quantitative analysis of change is developed, and demonstrated by a study of changes in the socioeconomic status (SES) characteristics of 89 Long Island suburban communities 1960-1970. Three theoretical models in the literature on suburban change are shown to be related to statistical measures of change of the mean, change of dispersion and positional change. Because of failure to recognize that there are three mathematically independent dimensions of change, high correlations between measurements of a status characteristic at two points in time were formerly misinterpreted to mean a lack of change. Also, previous studies probably erred in generalizing from only one indicator of suburban SES, educational attainment. In this study, three SES variables, education, occupation and income, are shown to have different patterns of change on the three dimensions.