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Racial Stratification and the Durable Tangle of Neighborhood Inequality

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  • Robert J. Sampson

    (Department of Sociology at Harvard University)

Abstract

This article revisits neglected arguments of the Moynihan Report to yield insights for a contemporary understanding of racial inequality in American cities. The author argues that the logic of Moynihan's reasoning implies three interlinked hypotheses: (1) the tangle of “pathology,†or what today we call social dislocations, has a deep neighborhood structure, as does socioeconomic disadvantage; (2) the tangle of neighborhood inequality is durable and generates self-reinforcing properties that, because of racial segregation, are most pronounced in the black community; and (3) neighborhood “poverty traps†can ultimately only be broken with government structural interventions and macro-level policies. Examining longitudinal neighborhood-level data from Chicago and the United States as a whole, the author finds overall support for these hypotheses. Despite urban social transformations in the post-Moynihan era, neighborhoods remained remarkably stable in their relative economic standing. Poverty is also stubbornly persistent in its ecological concentration with other social disadvantages, especially in the black community.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert J. Sampson, 2009. "Racial Stratification and the Durable Tangle of Neighborhood Inequality," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 621(1), pages 260-280, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:621:y:2009:i:1:p:260-280
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716208324803
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert Sampson & Patrick Sharkey, 2008. "Neighborhood selection and the social reproduction of concentrated racial inequality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(1), pages 1-29, February.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jeoung Min Lee & Jun Sung Hong & Stella M. Resko & A. Antonio Gonzalez-Prendes & Dexter R. Voisin, 2022. "Pathways from Exposure to Community Violence to Bullying Victimization among African American Adolescents in Chicago’s Southside," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, August.

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