The proposed project is a study of suburbanization patterns of a wide range of racial/ethnic groups in major U.S. metropolitan areas. A study of these patterns is essential for evaluating whether the increasing suburbanization of racial/ethnic minorities represents a form of assimilation or occurs within the context of a definite racial and ethnic hierarchy. The proposed research will go well beyond past research on this question by focusing on differences among suburbs, particularly on those characteristics that affect the well-being of residents, and on ethnic differences within major racial/ethnic categories. In addition, one part of our analysis will examine city vs. suburban residence with individual-level, rather than aggregate, data. The project will draw on several major data sources. For an analysis of which members of 23 different racial/ethnic groups reside in suburbs of the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, we will draw on the 5 percent Public Use Sample from the 1980 Census. Then, for an analysis of the segregation of these groups across the suburbs of the same metropolitan areas, we will use racial/ethnic composition data from Summary Tape File 3A of the 1980 Census. Finally, we will construct a unique data set for 8 selected metropolitan areas to join together extensive, already assembled data about the characteristics of suburbs in major metropolitan areas with data on the characteristics of minority-group residents of those suburbs, to be extracted from Summary Tape File 4B. Our analysis will focus on how minority-group members attain residence in places with characteristics that affect positively the quality of life and life chances of their residents. We will estimate models that view locational outcomes as a function of the socioeconomic, assimilation, and life-cycle characteristics of individuals and racial/ ethnic groups, and we will test whether these models vary by ethnic group and across metropolitan areas. Further, we will analyze the ability of individuals to """"""""convert"""""""" their socioeconomic and assimilation characteristics into favorable residential locations in terms of properties of the racial/ethnic groups to which they belong, such as size, percent U.S. born, and mean socioeconomic status.
| Logan, J R; Alba, R D; McNulty, T et al. (1996) Making a place in the metropolis: locational attainment in cities and suburbs. Demography 33:443-53 |
| Logan, J R; Alba, R D (1993) Locational returns to human capital: minority access to suburban community resources. Demography 30:243-68 |
| Alba, R D; Logan, J R (1991) Variations on two themes: racial and ethnic patterns in the attainment of suburban residence. Demography 28:431-53 |
