MCA: Investigating the Mechanisms of Integration in U.S. Communities

This study uses a mixed method, multiscalar approach to map and explore stably integrated communities and explain their emergence and persistence. In the United States, spatial inequality plays a fundamental role in shaping patterns of social inequality. Because access to resources and wealth are typically tied to home ownership and location, developing a full understanding of housing patterns and trends is essential for social scientists and policymakers interested in equity. Using quantitative methods, GIS mapping techniques, in-depth interviews, archival work, and targeted ethnographic observation, researchers will define and map stably integrated neighborhoods, identify their key characteristics and patterns, and select eight communities for in-depth qualitative investigation of the mechanisms of stability. Findings will clarify mechanisms that serve as both pernicious barriers to, and facilitators of, integration that affect intergroup relations, upward mobility, and well-being. The team will collaborate with research and community organizations to share key findings broadly in addition to academic and policy venues. A public website will make maps and reports available for open-access use. This project will be among the first to examine stable integration across local, regional, and national scales, taking a multiscalar, multidimensional approach to integration that creates new opportunities for theory-building and empirical clarity. The team will examine neighborhood-level integration patterns where racial integration has persisted for 20+ years. In mapping stably integrated neighborhoods, identifying and theorizing the key characteristics that lead to stable integration, and engaging in mixed qualitative research at eight research sites that represent the diversity of such communities, they will develop novel empirical and theoretical insight into how stably integrated communities not only achieve numerical stability, but the extent to which social integration is achieved. Such insights into both the breadth and depth of integrated communities are an important contribution to our understanding of persisting inequality and social change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.