The Integration of Black Residents in Suburban Neighborhoods: A Reexamination of the Contact Hypothesis

As blacks move into the suburbs, residential integration becomes relevant to sociological analysis. Previous research shows interracial contact in desegrated urban housing projects dispels racial animosity and aides integration. Racially mixed suburban neighborhoods, however, are unlike housing projects, so the contact hypothesis may not apply. This survey of white suburbanites indicates significant positive relationships between socioeconomic status, cosmopolitanism, and tolerance toward black neighbors. Furthermore, initial and subsequent attitudes of whites toward black neighbors are largely unaffected by contact. Theoretical concepts such as social class and cosmopolitanism, therefore, provide a meaningful frame of reference in explaining the integration of blacks in suburbs.