Trajectories of Spatial Assimilation or Place Stratification? A Typology of Residence and Workplace Histories of Newly Arrived Migrants in Sweden

In most societies, resources and opportunities are concentrated in neighborhoods and workplaces occupied by the host population. The spatial assimilation and place stratification theories propose trajectories (the sequences of events) leading to minority and migrant access to or exclusion from these advantageous places. However, most previous research on these theories did not ask whether such theorized trajectories occur. We apply sequence analysis to decade-long residence and workplace histories of newly arrived migrants in Sweden to identify a typology of combined residence-work trajectories. The seven types of trajectories in our typology are characterized by varying degrees of proximity to the host population in residential neighborhoods and workplaces and by different patterns of change in such proximity over time. The pivotal role of socioeconomic gains in spatial assimilation, posited by the namesake theory, is not supported, as we do not find that migrant employment precedes residence alongside the host population. The importance of housing-market discrimination for migrants’ exclusion from host-dominated spaces, posited by place stratification theory, is only weakly supported, as we find that migrants from less affluent countries accumulate disadvantage over time, likely due to discrimination in both the labor and housing markets. Our findings also underscore the need for new theories explaining migrant residential outcomes which apply to contexts where migrant-dense neighborhoods are still forming.

Land use disadvantages in Germany: A matter of ethnic income inequalities?

Environmental hazards affect people from different income groups and migration backgrounds on different levels. The research on environmental inequalities and environmental justice has proposed several theories to explain such inequities; still, it remains unclear which of these theories applies to the German societal context. This research investigates whether individual-level income differences between Germans and migrants account for objectively measured exposure to the environmental goods and bads of land use, specifically soil sealing and green spaces. Marginal effects and predictions based on georeferenced survey data from the German General Social Survey reveal that Germans with higher incomes live in areas with better neighbourhood quality. Germans with lower incomes are exposed to fewer disadvantages stemming from land use, and there is no marginal difference between nonurban and urban municipalities. Spatial assimilation in high-income groups occurs; however, the difference in low-income groups can be explained by place stratification and discrimination in the housing market. While this study uses more indirect and non-hazardous measures of environmental quality – in contrast to air pollution or noise – it provides evidence that such indicators also create distributional injustices in Germany.

New Faces, New Neighbors? How Latino Population Growth and Lending Expansion Shapes the Neighborhood Racial and Ethnic Composition for White and Latino Homebuyers

Fueled by increased socioeconomic status (SES), geographic mobility, and access to lending, Latino home buying expanded during the recent housing boom. However, less is known about the types of neighborhoods Latino homebuyers accessed during this time. To address this gap, we explore how SES, mortgage type, and the metropolitan racial and ethnic context affected the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods for new white and Latino homeowners. We use data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to explore these processes in 317 U.S. metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2010. Overall, we find evidence supporting both spatial assimilation theory and place stratification theory: while increased SES and loan amounts led to more white neighbors for both white and Latino homebuyers, subprime loans and the racial and ethnic context of metropolitan areas continue to constrain neighborhood attainment for Latinos.

A Critical Intervention for Urban Sociology

U.S. urban sociology continues to be dominated by the Chicago School’s theories and methodological approaches. While yielding valuable insight regarding the importance of place, this body of work reproduces racism through explicit and implicit appeals to White-centered sensibility and desirability. In this chapter, we examine two specific Chicago School-inspired theories and related empirical work—spatial assimilation and place stratification. We draw from Du Boisian, racial capitalism, and other critical perspectives to illuminate the racial logics buoying this research. Where urban sociology underscores linear progression towards or digression from Whiteness, we emphasize urban heterogeneity and the intentional, non-linear or cyclical production of urban communities. Further, we argue that urban sociology must reckon with the racist roots of some of its most popular theories and methods, and recommend that future work explicitly center the mutually constitutive racism-capitalism-urbanization processes that have long shaped cities in the U.S. and around the world.

Understanding the Neighborhood Concentration of Affluent Black Households in the 1990s

This study examines the intersection of race, class, and place by exploring the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households in the United States during the 1990s using Census 2000 data. It adds to the literature seeking a more nuanced understanding of the black community. The author assesses the theories of spatial assimilation and place stratification in understanding the processes associated with the neighborhood-level concentration of affluent black households. Regression analyses reveal that, in general, such concentrations are positively associated with black neighborhood socioeconomic status and negatively associated with white status. Furthermore, neighborhood quality and demographic factors are important for understanding the geography of affluent black households. Additionally, the metropolitan characteristics of residential segregation, racial composition, and regional location affect the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households. Findings suggest place stratification theory provides greater explanatory power than spatial assimilation theory for understanding the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households.

Indigenous Places and the Making of Undocumented Status in Mexico-US Migration

The uneven distribution of economic and social resources across communities often falls along ethno-racial dimensions. Few demographers have considered whether such axes of place stratification in a migrant-sending country relate to individuals’ access to economic and social resources in a migrant-receiving country. Taking Mexico-US migration flows as our focus, we examine if having origins in an indigenous place, a primary axis of stratification in Mexico, is associated with migrants’ documentation status when crossing the border, a primary dimension of stratification in the United States. We rely on individual-level data from the Mexican Migration Project merged with municipal-level data from the Mexican Census. Using multilevel models, we find that migrants from communities in indigenous municipalities in Mexico are more likely to migrate undocumented than documented to the United States compared with those from communities in non-indigenous municipalities, net of the economic and social resources identified in prior work as useful for international movement. We discuss why indigenous places — marked by a set of correlated conditions of economic and social disadvantage — disproportionately channel migrants into an undocumented status. This study contributes to understandings of stratification processes in cross-border contexts and has implications for the production of inequality in the United States.

Differential Returns?: Neighborhood Attainment among Hispanic and Non–Hispanic White New Legal Permanent Residents

We use data from the New Immigrant Survey to examine patterns of residential attainment among Hispanic immigrants who recently became legal permanent residents (LPRs) relative to new LPR non–Hispanic white immigrants. We focus on whether these Hispanic and non–Hispanic white immigrants differ in their ability to transform human capital into residential advantage. Our results suggest that the answer depends on the neighborhood attribute in question. When predicting residence in tracts with relatively more non–Hispanic whites, the answer is yes, with evidence in support of the place stratification model of residential attainment. We find that non–Hispanic white immigrants have access to relatively whiter neighborhoods than their Hispanic immigrant counterparts, irrespective of differences in education levels. When assessing Hispanic immigrants’ ability to enter socioeconomically advantaged neighborhoods, however, the differences we observe are mostly accounted for by compositional differences in sociodemographic and acculturation factors. Taken together, our findings suggest that Hispanic immigrants are more similar to their white immigrant counterparts when it comes to converting higher education into higher income neighborhoods than into increased residential integration with whites; although their exposure to more socioeconomically advantaged neighborhoods at all levels of education remains lower than that of their white immigrant counterparts.

White and Latino Locational Attainments: Assessing the Role of Race and Resources in U.S. Metropolitan Residential Segregation

This study examines White-Latino residential segregation in six U.S. metropolitan areas using new methods to draw a connection between two dominant research traditions in the segregation literature and empirically analyze prevailing conceptual frameworks. Based on microlevel locational attainment analyses, we find that for Latinos, acculturation and socioeconomic status are positively associated with greater residential contact with Whites and thus promote lower segregation consistent with predictions of spatial assimilation theory. However, standardization and decomposition analysis reveals that a substantial portion of White-Latino segregation can be attributed to White-Latino differences in the ability to translate acculturation and socioeconomic assimilation into co-residence with Whites. Thus, consistent with predictions of place stratification theory, evidence suggests that spatial assimilation dynamics are limited by continuing race-based factors leading to the expectation that segregation will persist at moderate to high levels even after Latinos reach parity with Whites on social and economic resources that shape locational attainments. Therefore, we offer two conclusions. First, contemporary White-Latino segregation is due in part to group differences in social and economic resources that determine locational attainments and that this component of White-Latino segregation will continue to be significant so long as Whites and Latinos differ along these social and economic characteristics. Second, while spatial assimilation dynamics can promote partial reductions in White-Latino segregation, we expect segregation to continue at moderate to high levels because place stratification dynamics limit Latino residential integration even when Latinos and Whites are comparable on relevant resources.

Muslim/Non-Muslim Locational Attainment in Philadelphia: A New Fault Line in Residential Inequality?

This study examines Muslim/non-Muslim disparities in locational attainment. We pooled data from the 2004, 2006, and 2008 waves of the Public Health Management Corporation’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Survey. These data contain respondents’ religious identities and are geocoded at the census-tract level, allowing us to merge American Community Survey data and examine neighborhood-level outcomes to gauge respondents’ locational attainment. Net of controls, our multivariate analyses reveal that among blacks and nonblacks, Muslims live in neighborhoods that have significantly lower shares of whites and greater representations of blacks. Among blacks, Muslims are significantly less likely to reside in suburbs, relative to non-Muslims. The Muslim disadvantages for blacks and nonblacks in neighborhood poverty and neighborhood median income, however, become insignificant. Our results provide support for the tenets of the spatial assimilation and place stratification models and suggest that Muslim/non-Muslim disparities in locational attainment comprise a new fault line in residential stratification.