Publications

Mary C. Waters, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, examines one way in which race matters in the United States by studying black children of immigrants in New York City. She demonstrates that the segregation and concentrated poverty in black neighborhoods have long-lasting effects on the acquisition of skills. These youth face direct employment discrimination by employers, and in response to discrimination many develop an oppositional attitude, refusing to take jobs in which they feel they must show deference to white supervisors.

Waters examines the effects of segregation on black West Indian immigrants and their children in Brooklyn. Her data come from a 1990–92 field study in New York City of black immigrants to the United States from the Caribbean. Waters cites research showing that in the United States racial segregation for blacks is more extensive than for any other ethnic group. Active discrimination and institutional racism lead to fewer city services and less private investment in residentially segregated neighborhoods. Blacks are highly segregated at all levels of income. Middle- and working-class blacks, seeking better schools and less crime, purchase housing in predominantly white neighborhoods, but white flight and bank redlining lead to declining property values in those neighborhoods, decreasing investment, and increasing poverty and crime.