John E. Farley

Race Still Matters The Minimal Role of Income and Housing Cost as Causes of Housing Segregation in St. Louis, 1990

Two techniques are used to examine the extent to which racial housing segregation in the St. Louis metropolitan area in 1990 is attributable to income and housing cost differences between African-Americans and whites. Measurement of segregation within household-income categories revealed that, at all income levels, African-Americans and whites with similar incomes are about as segregated as African-Americans and whites overall. Indirect standardizations based on housing cost and tenure reveal that if those were the only causes of segregation, African-Americans and whites would be far less segregated than they are. The proportion of segregation attributable to such differences is even lower in 1990 than in past censuses.

Has Public Housing Gotten a Bum Rap? The Incidence of Crime in St. Louis Public Housing Developments

Data were obtained from police on the incidence of crime in multiblock areas containing ten public housing developments in the city of St. Louis. The data covered eight FBI index crimes, and were obtained for seven years, 1971 through 1977. Crime rates per 100,000 population were computed. Seven of the public housing developments were large (over 500 units). There was a mix of lowrise and highrise developments, and conventionally and tenant-managed developments. The data indicate that the crime rates per 1000,000 population in and near the public housing developments are not significantly higher than in the city as a whole, nor are they higher than would be expected based on citywide relationships of crime to demographic and locational predictors. While there is more variation in the incidence of crimes in smaller developments than in larger ones, there is no evidence to support the belief that crime rates are, overall, higher than average in either type of development. It is also not possible from these data to identify any relationship between tenant management and crime rates, though other research has indicated that tenants feel safer in tenant-managed projects.

P* Segregation Indices: What Can They Tell Us about Housing Segregation in 1980?

An alternative measure of segregation, the P* index, is explained. This measure is computed separately for each racial/ethnic group and, in a diadic situation, indicates each groups potential for neighborhood contact with the other. The usefulness of this index, as well as the different information it provides from that provided by other indices, is discussed. P* indices are computed for blacks and whites for the St Louis metropolitan area in 1970 and 1980. The results indicate that neither group experienced a sizable increase in residential contact with the other between 1970 and 1980. The significance of this finding in a context of increasing black suburbanization is discassed.

Metropolitan Housing Segregation in 1980 The St. Louis Case

Metropolitan patterns of black/white housing segregation are analyzed through the 1980 census data for the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Using the index of dissimilarity as an indicator of segregation, it was found that there was no change in central city segregation, and only a modest decline in suburban segregation. Analysis of segregation within incorporated places revealed that most of the areas population lived in racially homogeneous or internally segregated communities, and that virtually all racially mixed suburbs away from the major sector of black population were highly segregated. It was found that most of the suburbs that did have low segregation indices were experiencing rapid black population growth, and thus may have been experiencing racial turnover. It is concluded that patterns of segregation which have historically existed in the central city are now being repeated in the suburbs.

Suburbanization and Central-City Crime Rates: New Evidence and a Reinterpretation'

Previous studies have reported a positive relationship between the degree of suburbanization of a metropolitan area and central-city crime rates. Two competing explanations of this relationship, one based on relative deprivation in cities as compared with suburbs and the other attributing the relationship to suburb-to-city movements of crime participants, have been offered. The present study, based on regression analysis of 1980 census data, finds a relative deprivation effect on two crimes in cities as compared with suburbs, but, even when relative deprivation is controlled, the suburbanization-crime relationship persists. The participant-movement explanation, on the other hand, is found to involve unrealistic assumptions about the movements of offenders. It is proposed that the unexplained part of the relationship between suburbanization and central-city crime is an arbitrary product of the effect of the city suburb boundary location on the denominator of the crime rate. It is demonstrated that such an effect can occur even in the absence of any movement of offenders between suburb and city.

Earthquake fears, predictions, and preparations in mid-America

When self-proclaimed climatologist Iben Browning predicted that a major earthquake would shatter the Heartland on 2 or 3 December 1990, many living within reach of the New Madrid fault zone reacted with varying combinations of preparation and panic. John E. Farley explores public reaction to Brownings pseudoscientific prediction, presenting important data gathered both before and after the threat proved empty. Farley and fellow members of his survey team consider the long-term effects of the Browning prediction on earthquake awareness and preparedness in a region that remains at risk for a damaging quake. All four surveys offer important insights into what people believe about earthquake risk in the NMSZ, what they know about earthquakes, what specific actions they have - and have not - taken in preparation for earthquakes, and what they think a severe quake would do to their neighborhoods.

Black-White Housing Segregation in the City of St. Louis A 1988 Update

Data from the 1988 St. Louis Dress Rehearsal Census are used to measure trends in residential segregation between decennial censuses. From 1940 through 1980, St. Louis city exhibited a persistent pattern of segregation, and through 1980, an exceptionally high proportion of its white population lived in exclusively white areas. Between 1980 and 1988, segregation declined significantly at both the tract and block levels and interracial exposure increased, suggesting a decline in the propensity of whites to move out of all-white areas that become minimally integrated. There was an overall decline in white out-migration from the city, implying that citywide net migration influences neighborhood integration potential. Still, St. Louis remains quite segregated compared to 1980 national averages.

Race, Not Class: Explaining Racial Housing Segregation in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, 2000

Abstract Two techniques, computation of segregation indices within income categories, and indirect standardizations based on income and two measures of housing cost, are used to assess the extent to which residential segregation in the St. Louis metropolitan area in 2000 may be attributed to socioeconomic differences between whites and African Americans. Both techniques indicate that the overwhelming majority of segregation is attributable to race, not class. In all income categories, segregation of blacks from whites is as great or greater than in the overall population. Indirect standardizations show that housing cost measures using estimated value of the house explain away somewhat more segregation than those based on monthly owner cost. However, the former type of measure may itself reflect consequences of racial discrimination in housing and lending. Despite a modest decline in the proportion of segregation attributable to race, the large majority of segregation remains tied to race, not class.

Contesting our Everyday Work Lives: The Retention of Minority and Working-Class Sociology Undergraduates

Efforts to improve retention and graduation among minority students have been commonplace in higher education, but few such efforts have been undertaken in sociology. In this presidential address, I document that in sociology, as in other disciplines, disproportionate numbers of African American and Latino/a students do not graduate. I examine sociological research on the barriers to success that face students of color in predominantly white colleges, and on what can be done to help overcome these barriers. An example of a successful program to increase the graduation rates of minority and working-class students in sociology is discussed, and the sociological discipline is challenged to use its knowledge and insights to help improve opportunities for minority and working-class students in sociology.

The Ecological Context of Urban Crime A Further Exploration

This article tests further a relationship between suburbanization and central-city crime rates shown in papers by Gibbs and Erickson (1976) and by Skogan (1977). We show that although Gibbs and Erickson fail to introduce an important control (metropolitan population), the relationship persists after such a control is introduced. We also show that the relationship holds for a much wider range of cities than the 32 large cities studied by Skogan. Differing explanations of the relationship offered by Gibbs and Erickson and by Skogan are evaluated. The Gibbs and Erickson explanation involves implausible assumptions about movement of crime participants from suburbs to cities. The relationship is more likely explained on the basis of urban-suburban status differentials and central-city decline, both of which are maximized in larger, older, more suburbanized cities.