Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender - Book Report/Review Example

Individual preferences as a factor of racial segregation It is rational for one to envisage people from across all racial backgrounds choosing a neighborhood based on their budgetary constraints. However, this has not been the case in the American society. Despite rising economic statuses among blacks and the legislation of Fair Housing Act there has been little change in segregation. Isolation has simply been resistant to change. It is apparent that there are other factors other than budgetary constraints that individuals put into consideration when choosing a neighborhood (Massey and Nancy 86).

Individual preferences play a major role in the existence of racially polarized neighborhoods. According to Massey and Nancy, African Americans would prefer to choose a neighborhood with blacks even if they could afford to live in metropolitan areas and even in the whites’ suburbs. They argued that avoiding hostility and racism was the main influence for this preference (89). On the other hand, racial segregation among Hispanics and Asians dropped significantly over time. Hispanics and Asians preferred to desegregate as their incomes increased (Massey and Nancy 92).

According to Massey and Denton, persistence of racially polarized neighborhoods in America can be attributed to individual preferences. While blacks’ would go for neighborhoods with a significant number of own race individuals, Hispanics and Asians would choose neighborhoods based on their income levels. On the other hand, an undesirable stereo type about black neighbors explains the hostility of whites’ to sharing a neighborhood with blacks. Works CitedMassey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton.

American apartheid: segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. Print.