Scholarship on discrimination consistently shows that non–Whites are at a disadvantage in obtaining goods and services relative to Whites. To a lesser extent, recent work has asked whether or not place of residence may also affect individuals’ chances in economic markets. In this study, we use a field experiment in an online market for second–hand goods to examine transactional opportunities for White, Black, Asian, and Latino residents of both advantaged and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Our results show that sellers prefer transactional partners who live in advantaged neighborhoods to those who live in neighborhoods that are majority non–White and have higher rates of poverty. This was true across all four racial/ethnic groups, revealing that neighborhood stigma exists independently of racial stigma. We discuss the implications for scholarship on neighborhood effects and we outline how future research using experiments can leverage various types of markets to better specify when characteristics like race trigger discrimination.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbascalMaria. 2015. “Us and Them: Black–White Relations in the Wake of Hispanic Population Growth.” American Sociological Review80:789–813.
2.
AhmedAli M., and HammarstedtMats. 2008. “Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market.” Journal of Urban Economics64:362–72.
3.
AndersonElijah. 1999. Code of the Street. New York: Norton.
4.
AndersonElijah. 2012. “The Iconic Ghetto.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences642:8–24.
5.
AnanatElizabeth O., Gassman–PinesAnna, and Gibson–DavisChristina M.2011. “The Effects of Local Employment Losses on Children's Educational Achievement.” Pp. 299–311 in Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances, edited by DuncanGreg and MurnameRichard. New York: Russell Sage.
6.
AyresIan, and SiegelmanPeter. 1995. “Race and Gender Discrimination in Bargaining for a New Car.” American Economic Review85:304–21.
7.
BaldassarriDelia, and AbascalMaria. 2017. “Field Experiments in the Social Sciences.” Annual Review of Sociology43:41–73.
8.
BertrandMarianne, and DufloEsther. 2016. “Field Experiments on Discrimination.” NBER Working Paper No. 22014.
9.
BertrandMarianne, and MullainathanSendhil. 2004. “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination.” The American Economic Review94:991–1013.
10.
BesbrisMax. 2015. “Stigma.” Pp. 1532–4 in The Sage Encyclopedia of Economics and Society, edited by WherryFrederick F. and SchorJuliet. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
BesbrisMax. 2016. “Romancing the Home: Emotions and the Interactional Creation of Demand in the Housing Market.” Socio–Economic Review14:461–82.
12.
BesbrisMax, FaberJacob William, RichPeter, and SharkeyPatrick. 2015. “Effect of Neighborhood Stigma on Economic Transactions.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences112:4994–8.
13.
BesbrisMax, FaberJacob William, RichPeter, and SharkeyPatrick. 2018. “The Geography of Stigma: Experimental Methods to Identify the Penalty of Place.” Pp. 159–78 in Audit Studies: Behind the Scenes with Theory, Method and Nuance, edited by GaddisS. Michael. New York, NY: Springer.
14.
BoeingGeoff. 2018. “A Multi–Scale Analysis of 27,000 Urban Street Networks: Every US City, Town, Urbanized Area, and Zillow Neighborhood.” Environment and Planning Bhttp://doi.org/10.1177/2399808318784595
15.
BonnetFrancois, LaléEtienne, SafiMirna, and WasmerEtienne. 2016. “Better Residential than Ethnic Discrimination! Reconciling Audit and Interview Findings in the Parisian Housing Market.” Urban Studies53:2815–33.
16.
BunelMathieu, L'HortyYannick, and PetitPascal. 2014. “Discrimination Based on Residence and Access to Employment.” Urban Studies53:267–86.
17.
Burdick–WillJulia. 2016. “Neighborhood Violent Crime and Academic Growth in Chicago: Lasting Effects of Early Exposure.” Social Forces95:133–58.
18.
CarterPrudence L., and ReardonSean F.2014. “Inequality Matters.” William T. Grant Inequality Paper.
19.
CorrellShelley, BenardStephen, and PaikIn. 2007. “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?” American Journal of Sociology112:1297–339.
20.
DoleacJennifer L., and SteinLuke C.D.2013. “The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes.” The Economic Journal123:F469–92.
FaberJacob W. 2015. “Superstorm Sandy and the Demographics of Flood Risk in New York City.” Human Ecology43:363–78.
23.
FaberJacob W.2018a. “Cashing in On Distress: The Expansion of Predatory Financial Institutions throughout the Great Recession.” Urban Affairs Review54:663–96.
24.
FaberJacob W.2018b. “Segregation and the Geography of Creditworthiness: Racial Inequality in a Recovered Mortgage Market.” Housing Policy Debate28:215–74.
25.
FiskeSusan T.1998. “Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination.” Pp. 357–411 in The Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by GilbertDaniel T. and FiskeSusan T.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
26.
FryerRoland G., and LevittSteven D.2004. “The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names.” Quarterly Journal of Economics119:767–805.
27.
GaddisMichael S.2015. “Discrimination in the Credential Society: An Audit Study of Race and College Selectivity in the Labor Market.” Social Forces93:1451–79.
HardingDavid J.2009. “Collateral Consequences of Violence in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.” Social Forces88:757–84.
30.
HardingDavid J. 2010. Living the Drama. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
31.
HardingDavid, GennetianLisa, WinshipChristopher, SanbonmatsuLisa, and KlingJeffrey. 2011. “Unpacking Neighborhood Influences on Education Outcomes: Setting the Stage for Future Research.” Pp. 277–96 in Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality: Schools and Children's Life Chances, edited by DuncanGregg and MurnaneRichard. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
32.
JerolmackColin, and KhanShamus. 2014. “Talk Is Cheap: Ethnography and the Attitudinal Fallacy.” Sociological Methods & Research43:178–209.
33.
JohnsonBrian D., and BetsingerSara. 2009. “Punishing The ‘Model Minority’: Asian–American Criminal Sentencing Outcomes in Federal District Courts.” Criminology47(4):1045–90.
34.
JonesNikki, and JacksonChristina. 2012. “‘You Just Don't Go Down There’: Learning to Avoid the Ghetto in San Francisco.” Pp. 83–110 in The Ghetto: Contemporary Global Issues and Controversies, edited by HutchinsonRay and HaynesBruce D.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
35.
KimClaire Jean. 1999. “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans.” Politics & Society27:105–38.
36.
KrysanMaria, and BaderMichael. 2007. “Perceiving the Metropolis: Seeing the City through a Prism of Race.” Social Forces86:699–733.
37.
KrysanMaria and BaderMichael D.2009. “Racial Blind Spots: Black–White–Latino Differences in Community Knowledge.” Social Problems56:677–701.
38.
KrysanMaria, and FarleyReynolds. 2002. “The Residential Preferences of Blacks: Do They Explain Persistent Segregation?” Social Forces80:937–80.
39.
LaPiere RichardT.1934. “Attitudes vs. Actions.” Social Forces13:230–37.
40.
LausterNathaniel, and EasterbrookAdam. 2011. “No Room for New Families? A Field Experiment Measuring Rental Discrimination against Same–Sex Couples and Single Parents.” Social Problems58:389–409.
41.
LichterDaniel T., ParisiDomenic, and TaquinoMichael C.2015. “Toward a New Macro–Segregation?” American Sociological Review80:843–73.
42.
LudwigJens, DuncanGreg H., GennetianLisa A., KatzLawrence F., KesslerRonald C., KlingJeffrey R., and SanbonmatsuLisa. 2012. “Neighborhood Effects on the Long–Term Well–Being of Low–Income Adults.” Science337:1505–10.
43.
MarwellNicole. 2007. Bargaining for Brooklyn. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
44.
MasseyDouglas S.2007. Categorically Unequal. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
45.
MasseyDouglas S. and DentonNancy A.1993. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
46.
MasseyDouglas S. and FischerMary J.2000. “How Segregation Concentrates Poverty.” Ethnic and Racial Studies23:670–91.
47.
PagerDevah. 2003. “The Mark of a Criminal Record.” American Journal of Sociology108:937–75.
48.
PagerDevah. 2007a. Marked. Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press.
49.
PagerDevah. 2007b. “The Use of Field Experiments for Studies of Employment Discrimination: Contributions, Critiques, and Directions for the Future.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science609:104–33.
50.
PagerDevah, BonikowskiBart, and WesternBruce. 2009. “Discrimination in a Low–Wage Labor Market: A Field Experiment.” American Sociological Review74:777–99.
51.
PagerDevah, and QuillianLincoln. 2005. “Walking the Talk? What Employers Say versus What They Do.” American Sociological Review70:355–80.
52.
PagerDevah, and ShepherdHana. 2008. “The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets.” Annual Review of Sociology34:181–209.
53.
PedullaDavid. 2014. “The Positive Consequences of Negative Stereotypes: Race, Sexual Orientation, and the Job Application Process.” Social Psychology Quarterly77:75–94.
54.
PedullaDavid. 2016. “Penalized or Protected? Gender and the Consequences of Nonstandard and Mismatched Employment Histories.” American Sociological Review81:262–89.
55.
PetersonRuth D., and KrivoLauren J.. 2010. Divergent Social Worlds. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
56.
RansomMichael, and PopeC. Aarden. 1992. “Elementary School Absences and PM10 Pollution in Utah Valley.” Environmental Research58:204–19.
57.
ReardonSean F., and BischoffKendra. 2011. “Income Inequality and Income Segregation.” American Journal of Sociology116:1092–153.
58.
ReyesJessica W.2015. “Lead Policy and Academic Performance: Insights from Massachusetts.” Harvard Educational Review85:75–107.
59.
RichPeter M., and JenningsJennifer L.2015. “Choice, Information, and Constrained Options: School Transfers in a Stratified Educational System.” American Sociological Review80:1069–98.
60.
RobnettBelinda, and FelicianoCynthia. 2011. “Patterns of Racial–Ethnic Exclusion by Internet Daters.” Social Forces89:807–28.
61.
Sampson RobertJ.2008. “Moving to Inequality: Neighborhood Effects and Experiments Meet Social Structure.” America Journal of Sociology114:189–231.
62.
Sampson RobertJ.2012. Great American City. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
63.
Sampson RobertJ., and Byron GrovesW.1989. “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social–Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of Sociology94:774–802.
64.
Sampson RobertJ., MorenoffJeffrey D., and Gannon–RowleyThomas. 2002. “Assessing ‘Neighborhood Effects’.” Annual Review of Sociology28:443–78.
65.
Sampson RobertJ., and SharkeyPatrick. 2008. “Neighborhood Selection and the Social Reproduction of Concentrated Racial Inequality.” Demography45:1–29.
66.
Sampson RobertJ., SharkeyPatrick, and RaudenbushStephen. 2008. “Durable Effects of Concentrated Disadvantage on Verbal Ability among African–American Children.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences105:845–52.
67.
SchachterAriela. 2016. “From ‘Different’ to ‘Similar’: An Experimental Approach to Understanding Assimilation.” American Sociological Review81:981–1013.
68.
SchachterAriela, and BesbrisMax. 2017. “Immigration and Neighborhood Change: Methodological Possibilities for Future Research.” City & Community16:244–51.
69.
SchwartzHeather. 2010. Housing Policy is School Policy. New York, NY: Century Foundation.
70.
SharkeyPatrick. 2008. “The Intergenerational Transmission of Context.” American Journal of Sociology113:931–69.
71.
SharkeyPatrick. 2010. “The Acute Effect of Local Homicides on Children's Cognitive Performance.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences107:11733–38.
72.
SharkeyPatrick. 2013. Stuck in Place. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
73.
SharkeyPatrick, and FaberJacob W.2014. “Where, When, Why, and for Whom Do Residential Contexts Matter?” Annual Review of Sociology40:559–79.
74.
SharkeyPatrick, and SampsonRobert J.2010. “Destination Effects: Residential Mobility and Trajectories of Adolescent Violence in a Stratified Metropolis.” Criminology48:639–81.
75.
SharkeyPatrick, SchwartzAmy Ellen, EllenIngrid Gould, and LacoeJoanna. 2014. “High Stakes in the Classroom, High Stakes on the Street: The Effects of Community Violence on Students’ Standardized Test Performance.” Sociological Science1:199–218.
76.
SmithSandra Susan. 2007Lone Pursuit. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
77.
TilcsikAndras. 2011. “Pride and Prejudice: Employment Discrimination against Openly Gay Men in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology117:586–626.
VallejoJody. 2012. Barrios to Burbs: The Making of the Mexican American Middle Class. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
80.
WacquantLoïc. 2008. Urban Outcasts. New York, NY: Wiley.
81.
WacquantLoïc. 2010. “Urban Desolation and Symbolic Denigration in the Hyperghetto.” Social Psychology Quarterly73:215–9.
82.
WacquantLoïc, SlaterTom, and PereiraVirgílio Borges. 2014. “Territorial Stigmatization in Action.” Environment and Planning A46:1270–80.
83.
WilsonWilliam Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
84.
ZelizerViviana. 2011. Economic Lives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
85.
ZukinSharon. 2009. Naked City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
