Seating Aggregation as an Index of Attitude

An index of aggregation, computed as the departure from randomness in the number of classroom Negro-white seating adjacencies, is examined as a tentative index of interracial attitudes. In the three schools studied, significant aggregation by race was found. Two schools selected on a priori grounds showed an expected difference in degree of aggregation. All schools also showed significant aggregation by sex. Control analyses examining the effect of class size, proportion of Negroes, and proportion of vacant seats do not indicate artifacts in these respects. The index of seating aggregation is judged worthy of further exploration.