Introduction and Goals

Abstract

The literature on residential segregation is one of the oldest empirical research traditions in sociology and has long been a core topic in the study of social stratification and inequality as well as in the study of the demography of spatial population distribution. This literature is guided by the fundamental assumption that group differences in neighborhood residential outcomes are closely associated with social position and life chances. Accordingly, indices measuring segregation, especially the dimension of uneven distribution, are viewed as important summary indicators of overall group standing and scores for segregation indices have been a mainstay of research documenting levels, patterns, and trends in the residential segregation of racial and ethnic groups. Given the extensive attention social scientists have directed to the study of residential segregation, one might assume that the relationship between residential segregation and group differences in neighborhood residential outcomes is well understood. Surprisingly, this is not the case. The issue has received little attention in the literature on segregation measurement. Consequently, researchers are not able to offer precise conclusions about group differences in residential outcomes based on scores for popular and widely used indices of uneven distribution.