This is an author-produced blog posts introduce upcoming Urban Affairs Review articles. The Online First abstract can be found here.
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Connecting
Across the Divides of Race/Ethnicity: How Does Segregation Matter? - An
Overview
Authors: Joseph
Gibbons and Tse-Chuan Yang
Joseph
Gibbons Tse-Chuan Yang
Community
Connection and the problem of diversity?
The
recent wave of urban conflicts, like that seen in Baltimore, makes clear the
need for continued discussion on urban racial disadvantage. To this end, the connections one has with
their neighbors and a neighborhood itself, community connection, is a key venue
with which to focus. Research has shown
that poor community connection leads to variety of social ills, such as higher
crime and poorer health. There exists an
active discussion in city research as the effects racial/ethnic composition of one's
neighborhood have onto their community connection. A long enduring belief is
that racially diverse communities lack strong community connection due to
inability of different community members to establish common ground. As Robert Putnam once put it, people in these
communities 'hunker down', avoiding close connections with those nearby. However, there are raising doubts as to
whether this dour assessment captures the full scope of how race impacts
community connection.
