- [Voiceover] All right so
let's talk a little bit about
residential segregation.
So when we talk about
residential segregation,
we mean that groups of people basically
separate out into different neighborhoods.
Now, when I say groups of people,
often times we actually mean
groups of people by race.
But sometimes you can mean
groups of people by income.
Now, what's really
important about segregation,
this residential segregation,
is the concept that,
where we live really
affects our life chances.
Because where we live
affects our politics,
our health care, our availability
to educational resources.
So where we live is
actually pretty important.
Let's look at this
neighborhood that we see
on the bottom left of the street.
Now let's imagine both red and blue people
live in this neighborhood.
So the first thing we
see, we see a pattern.
And we can describe this
pattern as being uneven.
So we can see that
there's groups of people
living in different neighborhoods,
both blue and red are
not equally distributed.
So there is a pattern of
residential segregation
that is present in the neighborhood.
But actually, there are two other forms
of segregation that we can talk about.
So the first one of these
forms I want to talk about
is something called concentration.
And concentration ia
a form of segregation.
And what concentration
means, concentration means
that there's clustering
of the different groups.
So not only is the distribution different,
but they actually cluster together.
So the reds and the blues may have
a more intense pattern of clustering.
So what could that look
like in our neighborhood?
So what we could see here is that the red
is actually clustering on the bottom
right-hand corner of this neighborhood.
So clustering is clustering in a vicinity.
And this is actually,
the form of segregation
is called concentration.
Now, what if you had
segregation and concentration
but the clustering actually
occurred right in the center
of a geographic area
or a metropolitan area.
Well, that would actually be called
something a little bit different.
And that would actually
be called centralization.
So centralization is segregation
plus cost strain in a central area.
And what would that look like?
In a central area, so what would that
look like in our chart?
So in our chart, if the reds were very
centrally located, like so...
Then this would be an
example of centralization.
So they're segregated,
they're concentrated, and now,
they're in a central area,
so this is centralization.
So this is another form of segregation.
Now, let's talk about
a way in which we can
actually measure residential segregation.
And one of the things that we can use
is called the index of dissimilarity.
And the index is a scale going from 100,
all the way down to zero.
And at zero we're saying that
we have total segregation.
So the communities are
completely separate.
And at 100, we are experiencing
perfect distribution.
So if we imagine a city
that has four neighborhoods,
neighborhood A, B, C, and D,
and in the city lived the blue
people and the red people,
in this example we would probably
be very close, or at zero.
Because we can see that the red people
are completely segregated
in their own neighborhood,
compared to the blue people.
However, if we changed
this up a little bit,
and actually dispersed the red people up
into different neighborhoods,
and dispersed the blue people,
we would actually be much closer
to that perfect distribution.
So this is an example
of one of the measures
that is commonly used to measure
this residential segregation.
Now, finally, one of the
things you should also do,
is ask ourselves, why is
residential segregation important?
Because communities that are segregated
are politically weak.
Their political interests do not overlap
with the political interests
of other communities.
And when that happens, they
become politically vulnerable.
They don't necessarily have the
votes or political influence
to keep their own schools, establishments,
community centers, open,
compared to other communities
who are much more politically integrated.
Another factor to consider,
is that communities
that are very isolated,
their language may change.
Their language can be different from
the language used in other communities,
even within the same city.
So there could be an element
of linguistic isolation.
And this may make it more difficult for
these individuals in these
more segregated neighborhoods
to obtain jobs, to become more integrated
in the wider city and
the other communities.
And we also mention that
education, health care,
and other resources, may
be of a lower quality,
in their neighborhoods compared
to wealthier neighborhoods.
Or neighborhoods that
other groups reside in.
There's a final concept
I wanted to mention,
and this concept is
called spatial mismatch.
And this concept suggests that
opportunities for low-income people
who are in segregated neighborhoods,
may be present, but they may be far away
from where they actually live.
Which means that they're harder to access.
So from the place that people live
to where the opportunities are,
there's an actual, physical
distance, a spatial mismatch,
which makes it harder for them to access.
