The Ecology of Racial Discrimination

Abstract

In this article we build on prior studies that have used audit methods to document continued discrimination against African Americans in U.S. housing markets. Whereas prior work focused primarily on measuring racial disparities in housing access, here we seek to determine which personal, ecological, and agent factors raise or lower discrimination. Our data come from phone‐based audit studies of rental housing offered in the Philadelphia metropolitan market in the spring of 1999, the fall of 2000, and the spring of 2002. Male and female auditors called listings to inquire about the availability of units using white middle‐class English, black‐accented English, and Black English Vernacular. Results show that whites are more likely to be favored over black auditors of the same gender when the black auditor speaks Black English Vernacular compared with black‐accented English. Access was also lower in suburbs than the central city and it decreased as distance from a predominantly black neighborhood fell. Blacks experienced much lower access to units marketed by private landlords rather than professional agents. Blacks are more likely to gain access to areas that already have high concentrations of blacks or in areas that are not in danger of black encroachment (i.e., further away from black concentrations). These mechanisms serve to reinforce and replicate segregation.