Concepedia

Eating together apart: patterns of segregation in a multi‐ethnic cafeteria

Beverley Clack, John Dixon, Colin Tredoux

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · 2004 · 139 citations · 38 references

TL;DR

Segregation research has largely focused on macro‑spatial relationships in formally bounded contexts. The study examined segregation as a micro‑ecological process by observing seating patterns in a multi‑ethnic cafeteria. The authors coded 3,114 seating positions over two weeks and analyzed them with adapted segregation indices and loglinear/logistic regression models. Ethnic segregation manifested at both interactional group and broader clustering levels, was predicted by gender composition and cafeteria density, and suggests implications for contact and desegregation research. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Research on segregation has tended to focus on relations located at a macro‐spatial level of analysis and unfolding in contexts where boundaries to interaction are formally established. This research, by contrast, investigated segregation as a micro‐ecological process by observing patterns of seating in a multi‐ethnic cafeteria. A total of 3114 seating positions were coded over a 2‐week period and the resulting data were analysed using both adapted segregation indices ( P and D ) and loglinear and logistic regression techniques. The results suggested that ethnic segregation existed both at the level of interactional groups and in the form of broader patterns of racial clustering and dispersal in the cafeteria. Moreover, the magnitude of segregation was predicted by the gender composition of seating groups and by variations in the density of the cafeteria's population over time. Some implications of these results for social psychological research on contact and desegregation are considered. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.