Does Race Matter in Neighborhood Preferences? Results from a Video Experiment

TLDR

Racial residential segregation is commonly attributed to preferences, raising questions about whether such preferences are color‑blind or race‑conscious and whether racial composition or social class drives them. The study tests the racial proxy hypothesis by isolating the net effects of race and social class. An innovative experiment and subsequent analysis of social psychological factors were employed to assess residential preferences. Net of social class, neighborhood racial composition significantly influenced ratings; whites preferred all‑white neighborhoods, blacks favored racially mixed neighborhoods, and whites with negative stereotypes were especially influenced, while African‑Americans’ sensitivity was not conditioned by the proposed social psychological factors.

Abstract

Persistent racial residential segregation is often seen as the result of preferences: whites prefer to live with whites while blacks wish to live near many other blacks. Are these neighborhood preferences color‐blind or race conscious? Does neighborhood racial composition have a net influence upon preferences, or is race a proxy for social class? This article tests the racial proxy hypothesis using an innovative experiment that isolates the net effects of race and social class, followed by an analysis of the social psychological factors associated with residential preferences. The authors find that net of social class, the race of a neighborhood's residents significantly influenced how it was rated. Whites said the all‐white neighborhoods were most desirable. The independent effect of racial composition was smaller among blacks, who identified the racially mixed neighborhood as most desirable. Further, whites who held negative stereotypes about African‐Americans and the neighborhoods where they live were significantly influenced by neighborhood racial composition. None of the proposed social psychological factors conditioned African‐Americans' sensitivity to neighborhood racial composition.