Do social relations, attitudes, and behaviors vary by neighborhood? Massey and Denton (1993 p. 8) argue that """"""""residential segregation has been instrumental in creating a structural niche within which a deleterious set of attitudes and behaviors - a culture of segregation - has arisen and flourished."""""""" The """"""""culture of segregation"""""""" recalls the earlier idea of a """"""""culture of poverty"""""""" (Lewis 1968), but with emphasis on structural conditions. Similar to Massey and Denton, Wilson wrote, """"""""the residents of these jobless black poverty areas face certain social constraints on the choices they can make in their daily lives. These constraints, combined with restricted opportunities in the larger society, led to ghetto-related behavior and attitudes - that is, behavior and attitudes that are found more frequently in ghetto neighborhoods than in neighborhoods that feature even modest levels of poverty and local employment"""""""" (1996 p. 52). Few empirical studies based on nationally representative samples have directly tested whether the features of a """"""""culture of poverty"""""""" actually vary with neighborhood characteristics.
Our aim i n this proposal is to examine the effect of neighborhood characteristics (concentrated poverty, racial homogeneity, and their combined effects) on social relations, attitudes, and behaviors for both blacks and whites in diverse economic situations. The specific attitudes and behaviors we will examine include parenting practices and goals, trust in people and institutions, and hopelessness and despair; as well as drug use, marital fidelity, and gun ownership. For the analyses, we will pool 3 years of the General Social Survey and link individual records by address to tracts in the Census 2000. The GSS has yet to linked to 2000 Census tract data.
