Black and white perceptions of party differences

Despite a comparative disadvantage vis-à-vis whites in resources like education that often are considered to lead to political sophistication, African Americans show signs of being a rather politically sophisticated group of people. Given that better educated people are much more likely than those with less education to see larger differences between Democrats and Republicans, the propensity for blacks to perceive larger differences between the parties, both in general and on specific issues, is striking. This puzzle is explained by the fact that education has a huge impact on seeing partisan differences for whites, but not for blacks. That this understanding of the structure of American politics has so completely penetrated black public opinion is quite remarkable. Strength of partisanship, and to a lesser degree, racial consciousness, appear to be largely responsible for blacks (particularly less educated blacks) perceiving such stark party differences.     

The Voting Rights Act and Hispanic Political Representation in the Southwest

Extensions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1970 and 1975 expandedcoverage to the southwestern United States and included provisionsfor non-English speaking minorities. In the South, the VRA hadthe effect of increasing the number of black voters and electedofficials. In this article, we examine the changes in numbersof Mexican American and other Hispanic elected officials inthe five southwestern states for federal, state, and local officesduring the eleven-year period of 1973–1984. Gains occurredduring the period, although they were uneven across the statesand for different types of offices. The VRA served to removethe more blatant obstacles to electoral participation, but thelaw's fullest impact has also required effective political mobilizationby Hispanic organizations to increase voter registration andproduce a conducive environment for Hispanics to seek and winelective positions.     

The Voting Rights Act in North Carolina: An Evaluation

This study evaluates the impact of the Voting Rights Act onthe black electorate in North Carolina. A quasi-experimentalresearch design compares progress made in the forty countiescovered by the act (the experimental counties) with an equivalentgroup not covered by the act (the control counties). The resultsindicate that blacks in the experimental counties have madesignificant gains in registering voters, electing black officials,and improving their social and economic conditions.     

Institutional racism in child welfare

Three reasons are most often provided to explain the persistent overrepresentation of black children in the child welfare system. One, since black families have more risk factors (unemployment, single-parent families, poverty, etc) that cause them to abuse and neglect their children more than white families, the higher representation of blacks is appropriate. Two, since blacks are more highly concentrated among the poor than whites, blacks are expected to be overrepresented in child welfare due to their lower class status—not because of their race. But this article focuses on a third explanation—institutional racism. This thesis holds that systemic discrimination, which emanates from decision-making processes in child welfare, is a major contributor to the disparate representation of black children.This analysis examines how institutional racism influences the operation of the child welfare system to result in disparate adverse effects on black children and their families. The evolution of blacks in child welfare is viewed from an historical perspective. It assesses the impact of other systems (notably mental health, special education and juvenile justice) on the child welfare system. It examines the extent to which decision-making processes at various stages of child welfare screen in black children and screen out white children. It describes how systemic racism denies vital social and economic supports to kin caregivers who are responsible for their related children. This assessment ends with practice, policy and research recommendations to reduce the overrepresentation of black children in child welfare.     

Beyond the Voting Rights Act: White Responses to Black Political Power in Tchula, Mississippi

This article is a case study of the legal and political harassmentof a black mayor in Tchula, Mississippi. The case illustratesin the extreme the peculiar challenges that can be confrontedby local black elected officials in small southern jurisdictions,even where the population is predominantly black and the reachof the federal government otherwise assures black residentstheir rights to vote and hold public office. Effective enfranchisementof blacks in such communities is difficult because blacks possessfew resources with which to translate votes into economic developmentand because historic patterns of race relations in such backwaterareas stand as major cultural barriers to change.     

Housing affordability and family well‐being: Results from the housing voucher evaluation

Abstract

Studies report that real estate brokers often provide less information to black clients than to whites and steer them to different neighborhoods. However, few studies have investigated racial differences in housing search procedures. If blacks believe they will receive less useful information from brokers, they may avoid them.

Analyzing 1992 data from Detroit, this study finds that blacks were significantly less likely than whites to consult brokers. Blacks tended to rely more on methods such as talking with friends, checking newspaper ads, or driving through neighborhoods. Blacks were also more likely to believe that they missed housing opportunities because brokers discriminate. Differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of subjects account for some of the differences in the use of brokers. Eradicating discrimination by brokers will broaden housing opportunities only for blacks who use brokers. Policy actions that address the perception of discrimination by brokers may be a more powerful tool.     

Residential mortgage foreclosure and neighborhood change

Abstract

We use New Orleans as a case study to explore residential mortgage foreclosure as one mechanism linking prior black population and changes in employment levels with changes in aggregate income, housing tenure, vacancy rates, and black population size. Mortgage foreclosure data are merged with 1980 and 1990 census data aggregated at the block group level.

Structural equation modeling results indicate that both economic change and prior racial composition are associated with reductions in median block group incomes. Racial transition and loss of employment and income also increased foreclosure rates. Economic change and prior racial composition together impact neighborhoods through their effects on income and foreclosure rates, which in turn differentially affect vacancy rates, the change in black population, and the housing tenure status of residents. The differential effects of these variables point to the persistence of a dual housing market for blacks and whites in New Orleans.     

Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America

Although there exists a large and well-documented "race gap" between whites and blacks in their support for the death penalty, we know relatively little about the nature of these differences and how the races respond to various arguments against the penalty. To explore such differences, we embedded an experiment in a national survey in which respondents are randomly assigned to one of several argument conditions. We find that African Americans are more responsive to argument frames that are both racial (i.e., the death penalty is unfair because most of the people who are executed are black) and nonracial (i.e., too many innocent people are being executed) than are whites, who are highly resistant to persuasion and, in the case of the racial argument, actually become more supportive of the death penalty upon learning that it discriminates against blacks. These interracial differences in response to the framing of arguments against the death penalty can be explained, in part, by the degree to which people attribute the causes of black criminality to either dispositional or systemic forces (i.e., the racial biases of the criminal justice system) .     

Educational and economic characteristics of student beneficiaries: black-white differences

This article compares black and white student beneficiaries under the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) program during the 1972-73 school year from the standpoint of differences in economic and educational characteristics. The role that OASDI played in enabling students to continue in school full time is studied. The findings show that relatively more blacks were in the student beneficiary population than in the general student population; they were also overrepresented among students attending high school. Blacks were disadvantaged with respect to the educational attainment of their fathers and in terms of total family income. They also had lower-grade-point averages and those in high school were older than their white counterparts. Black high school students nevertheless planned to continue their education and to attend 4-year colleges in about the same proportion as whites. The total amount of educational income of black students was greater than that of white students, but the members of the latter group received more from loans and miscellaneous sources. Grants were the most important source of educational income for blacks. About half the student beneficiaries said they could continue full time in school without benefits and a third said they could not.     

Rent-seeking in higher education: Voting on academic requirements

Research on U.S. college athletics suggests that voting on academic eligibility rules is motivated by rent-seeking behavior. Furthermore, academic eligibility rules have been criticized as being racially biased — more blacks than whites fail to meet the requirements. This paper examines whether the potential racial bias impacted voting on a specific academic eligibility rule known as Proposition 42. Evidence of customer discrimination suggests revenue generating differentials between black and white college basketball players. If rent-seeking behavior motivates voting on academic eligibility rules, then the racial composition of recruits and fans may be determinants of Proposition 42 voting. The results show that schools with more black fans were more likely to oppose Proposition 42; however, schools with a larger pool of potential black recruits tended to favor it, perhaps due to a comparative advantage in recruiting black student-athletes.     

Comment on Kerry D. Vandell's “FHA restructuring proposals: Alternatives and implications”

Abstract

New Orleans, a highly segregated city with low homeownership, experienced a tremendous number of housing foreclosures between 1985 and 1990. This study highlights the process and impact of foreclosure in the urban housing market, which contributes to an understanding of their impact on the spatial structure of the city. Two aspects of foreclosure are examined: the differential impacts of foreclosure on low‐income and African‐American householders and changes in socioeconomic conditions (neighborhood change and the spatial structure of the city) resulting from foreclosure.

Conventional wisdom holds that urban neighborhood transformation is driven largely by white flight. The data presented in this article suggest a counterhypoth‐esis. Middle‐income professional whites employed in businesses impacted by recession who had recently bought housing with high loan‐to‐value ratios were forced to sell or have their houses foreclosed upon. The depressed market, in turn, made such housing affordable to middle‐class blacks interested in homeownership. Thus, black economic opportunity, rather than white flight, dramatically transformed the racial composition of many New Orleans East neighborhoods.     

Attitudes toward integration among black and white school board members: Public comparisons and etiological factors

Comparisons of school board members' attitudes toward integration (derived from nationwide surveys of black and white school board members) with public attitudes toward integration indicate that (1) elites (school board members) appeared more liberal than the public for both races; (2) this gap between elites and the public was less distinct for blacks than whites; and (3) black school board members evidenced more liberal attitudes toward integration than white school board members.Multiple regression analyses for school board members indicated that (1) race and education were the main factors determining board members' attitudes toward racial integration; (2) political participation showed a positive association with liberal attitudes toward integration; and (3) initial method of selection (elected or appointed) apparently bears no relationship to attitudes toward integration.     

Installing management by objectives in a public agency: a comparison of Black and White managers, supervisors, and professionals

This paper explores the prediction of King and Bass (1974) that black managers and supervisors may be more reluctant than whites to accept management programs such as management by objectives. Data were collected from 77 black and 61 white managers and professionals of the City of Detroit transportation system (D-DOT), after they had been involved with MBO for almost one year. Analyses of t-test results indicate that blacks assessed MBO as more helpful in their individual jobs and more positive for the organization than their white counterparts. Explanations derived from the racial demographics of the organization, the MBO installation, and characteristics of MBO as a management process in public agencies are given.     

The New Racial Calculus: Electoral Institutions and Black Representation in Local Legislatures

In this study we revisit the question of black representation on city councils and school boards using a novel substantive and methodological approach and longitudinal data for a sample of over 300 boards and councils. Conceptualizing black representation as a two-stage process, we fit Mullahy's hurdle Poisson models to explain whether and to what extent blacks achieve representation in local legislatures. We find that while the size of the black population and electoral arrangements matter more than ever, especially for overcoming the representational hurdle, the extent to which the black population is concentrated is also strongly associated with black council representation. Further, whereas black resources and opportunities to build "rainbow" coalitions with Latinos or liberal whites are marginally if at all related to black legislative representation, we find that legislative size is an underappreciated mechanism by which to increase representation, particularly in at-large systems, and is perhaps the best predictor of moving towards additional representation.     

Race and Assisted Housing

This article explores racial disparities between assisted housing outcomes of black and white and white households with children. We compare the assisted housing occupied by black and white households with children, and examine whether young adult education, employment, and earnings outcomes in 2011 differ between blacks and whites who spent part of their childhood in assisted housing in the 2000s. We use a special version of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) that has been address-matched to federally assisted housing, and the PSID’s Transition to Adulthood supplement, along with geocode-matched data from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), CoreLogic real estate data, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Statistical methods include difference in means, logit and general linear models. We find no evidence of racial disparities in the type of assisted housing program, the physical quality of project-based developments, or the management of public housing developments in the 2000 decade. But black households with children are more likely to live in assisted housing that is located in poorer quality neighborhoods. Multivariate tests reveal that the worse outcomes of black young adults compared with whites disappear once socioeconomic differences are taken into account. The discrepancy in assisted housing neighborhood quality experienced by black and white children makes no additional contribution to predicting young adult outcomes. Nonetheless, black children living in relatively better assisted housing neighborhoods tend to have better outcomes in young adulthood than those who live in poorer quality assisted housing neighborhoods. We discuss sources of racial disparity in neighborhood quality, and the policies enacted and proposed to address it.     

Changing the geography of opportunity by expanding residential choice: Lessons from the Gautreaux program

Abstract

The concept of “geography of opportunity” suggests that where individuals live affects their opportunities. While multivariate analyses cannot control completely for individual self‐selection to neighborhoods, this article examines a residential integration program—the Gautreaux program—in which low‐income blacks are randomly assigned to middle‐income white suburbs or low‐income mostly black urban areas.

Compared with urban movers, adult suburban movers experience higher employment but no different wages or hours worked, and suburban mover youth do better on several educational measures and, if not in college, are more likely to have jobs with good pay and benefits. The two groups of youth are equally likely to interact with peers, but suburban movers are much more likely to interact with whites and only slightly less likely to interact with blacks. The article considers how attrition might affect the observations and speculates about the program's strengths and pitfalls.     

Racial Dynamics of Subprime Mortgage Lending at the Peak

Subprime mortgage lending in the early 2000s was a leading cause of the Great Recession. From 2003 to 2006, subprime loans jumped from 7.6% of the mortgage market to 20.1%, with black and Latino borrowers receiving a disproportionate share. This article leveraged the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and multinomial regression to model home-purchase mortgage lending in 2006, the peak of the housing boom. The findings expose a complicated story of race and income. Consistent with previous research, blacks and Latinos were more likely and Asians less likely to receive subprime loans than whites were. Income was positively associated with receipt of subprime loans for minorities, whereas the opposite was true for whites. When expensive (jumbo) loans were excluded from the sample, regressions found an even stronger, positive association between income and subprime likelihood for minorities, supporting the theory that wealthier minorities were targeted for subprime loans when they could have qualified for prime loans. This finding also provides another example of an aspect of American life in which minorities are unable to leverage higher class position in the same way as whites are. Contrary to previous research, model estimates did not find that borrowers paid a penalty (in increased likelihood of subprime outcome) for buying homes in minority communities.     

Moving into and out of poor urban areas

Newly available geographical information from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is used to estimate a variety of relationships involving high-poverty metropolitan census tracts. The longitudinal data from the PSID show a great deal of geographical mobility even for persistently poor adults, with as many as one fourth of certain groups of these entering and leaving poor urban census tracts in a year. At the same time, solution of the transition matrices for various groups—whites and blacks of various income classes, in families with and without children, living in different types of census tracts—in the early 1980s shows the gradual emptying out of poor urban tracts, particularly of whites and blacks in families without children. As a consequence, despite the great degree of geographical “churning,” poor urban areas gradually become poorer, blacker, and the home of a larger share of black families with children. Some of these aggregate trends had been noticed by researchers comparing these areas in the 1970 and 1980 censuses; our more up-to-date results demonstrate the relationships between the micro and macro data.     

Racial/ethnic differences in utilization of section 8 existing rental vouchers and certificates

Abstract

This study examines racial and ethnic differences in the success of Section 8 Existing Housing Program enrollees in using rental vouchers and certificates. The study uses data from a sample of large urban public housing authorities (PHAs) collected by Abt Associates for the Housing Voucher Demonstration.

The study finds that, excluding one site, average success rates for whites, blacks, and Hispanics are quite similar. However, minority success rates are significantly higher than nonminority success rates in some sites, and significantly lower in others. The racial and ethnic differences in success rates appear to be related to the proportion of enrollees in each program that were nonminority. Nonminority whites tend to be less successful than blacks or Hispanics in sites where most enrollees are minority, and more successful in sites where most enrollees are white. We believe this may reflect low enrollee success rates in searching for units outside the Section 8 submarket, as defined by existing recipients.     

Weighing the “burden of ‘acting white’”: Are there race differences in attitudes toward education?

Recent reports by ethnographic researchers and media sources suggest that many African American students view academic success as a form of “acting white,” and that peer pressure reduces their level of effort and performance. This article analyzes the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to answer three questions: (1) do blacks experience greater alienation toward school than non-Hispanic whites?; (2) do blacks incur social penalties from their peers for succeeding academically?; and (3) if so, are these “achievement penalties” greater than those for whites? Our analysis suggests the answer to each of the three questions is “apparently not.”