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American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass by Douglas S. Massey, Nancy Denton
scottiewells's review against another edition
4.0
veryyyy data driven which made this a little dry for an anti-stem girl such as myself but also obviously was very factual and thorough
gertymac's review against another edition
3.0
Well, I thought I was ready to go back to reading nonfiction in my post-graduate school days.
I was wrong. I was immediately transported back to the "holy shit, I have to read and understand every word of this so I can write a reaction paper and not look like a fool when we talk about it in class" head-space in which I spent several years. No me gusta.
But the book itself was great, much like I remembered the original chapter I read to be. The authors present residential segregation as the overlooked causal piece of racial inequality in the United States. They layout the timeline for residential segregation in the US, starting with post-Civil War era migration of recently freed slaves to the modern court cases that have shaped the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. This part of the book is particularly strong. The way the authors tie together the systematic racism present in the fight for equal housing opportunities with the unintended consequences of other social and political policies is flawless. They make a strong case for residential segregation as the missing piece in the fight for civil rights.
What is not so strong about this book is its age. Written in 1993, and not updated since, the data is very dated. They didn't even have full 1990 Census results to use. There's been a lot of growth and change from the late 80s until now and I'd like to see Massey and Denton's argument applied to more updated figures on residential segregation and to the current economic and social climate. I'm shocked there isn't a more recent edition of this book.
For me, though, the best part of the book is a section called "Blame Enough for All". The authors pull no punches in openly blaming white hypocrisy and short sighted self-interest on the part of some black politicians and business owners for keeping the borders of the ghetto closed. I appreciate that Massey and Denton were willing to point out the guilt both sides have in perpetuating the ghetto. The book ends on a rather hopeful and instructive note. Massey and Denton lay out a step by step plan for "dismantling the ghetto". Only after the ghetto walls have been brought down can racial equality truly exist.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. At least I did once I pulled myself out of grad school panic mode. It was well written and the arguments were salient and important. If you've got an interest in the deliberate construction of racial inequality throughout United States history, this is a must read. Focus on the historical set up for the authors' arguments and breeze through the outdated presentation of the "contemporary" data.
Despite enjoying this book, I'm going to head back to fiction for my pleasure reading for awhile.
I was wrong. I was immediately transported back to the "holy shit, I have to read and understand every word of this so I can write a reaction paper and not look like a fool when we talk about it in class" head-space in which I spent several years. No me gusta.
But the book itself was great, much like I remembered the original chapter I read to be. The authors present residential segregation as the overlooked causal piece of racial inequality in the United States. They layout the timeline for residential segregation in the US, starting with post-Civil War era migration of recently freed slaves to the modern court cases that have shaped the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. This part of the book is particularly strong. The way the authors tie together the systematic racism present in the fight for equal housing opportunities with the unintended consequences of other social and political policies is flawless. They make a strong case for residential segregation as the missing piece in the fight for civil rights.
What is not so strong about this book is its age. Written in 1993, and not updated since, the data is very dated. They didn't even have full 1990 Census results to use. There's been a lot of growth and change from the late 80s until now and I'd like to see Massey and Denton's argument applied to more updated figures on residential segregation and to the current economic and social climate. I'm shocked there isn't a more recent edition of this book.
For me, though, the best part of the book is a section called "Blame Enough for All". The authors pull no punches in openly blaming white hypocrisy and short sighted self-interest on the part of some black politicians and business owners for keeping the borders of the ghetto closed. I appreciate that Massey and Denton were willing to point out the guilt both sides have in perpetuating the ghetto. The book ends on a rather hopeful and instructive note. Massey and Denton lay out a step by step plan for "dismantling the ghetto". Only after the ghetto walls have been brought down can racial equality truly exist.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. At least I did once I pulled myself out of grad school panic mode. It was well written and the arguments were salient and important. If you've got an interest in the deliberate construction of racial inequality throughout United States history, this is a must read. Focus on the historical set up for the authors' arguments and breeze through the outdated presentation of the "contemporary" data.
Despite enjoying this book, I'm going to head back to fiction for my pleasure reading for awhile.
heo1000's review against another edition
4.0
American Apartheid was a small but mighty read; with only 8 chapters, this book packs a punch.
Massey and Denton began by framing the important argument of how racial segregation, not individual prejudices or public/private policies and decisions alone, helped create Black poverty and the Urban Underclass. This central argument stuck with me throughout the book as the presentation of statistics and discussion were easy to follow. I can compare this to The Color of Law by Rothstein: although Rothstein was incredibly well researched as well, it read more like a textbook than a novel.
American Apartheid is the first book I've ever taken notes on. I wanted to not only do the subject matter justice, but also reference passages again, and quite frankly, add new words to my vocabulary.
One topic I'd like to touch on is hypersegregation. I read The New Jim Crow by Alexander last year, and I believe that was where I first heard of this term. Essentially, hypersegregation is where a race/ethnic group(in this case, Blacks) experience high levels of segregation across a range of measures. These measures include residential unevenness and isolation, as well as how clustered, concentrated and/or centralized neighborhoods are. The authors did a brilliant job at not only illustrating how hypersegregated Black communities are but succinctly compared the levels to other minority groups. Hispanics, while also poor and disadvantaged, "are never highly segregated on more than three dimensions." African Americans were hypersegregated in 16/30 metropolitan areas with the largest Black population in 1980, with at least 4/5 measures exceeding a high segregation index.
One of the more shocking parts of this account was how whites were surveyed in their attitude towards African Americans' right to live where they want. On paper, usually, a majority agreed they should have the freedom to choose where to live. However, when polled again, asked about their willingness to stay in a neighborhood as the Black population increased, less than half would be willing to stay. This was backed up by evidence of "white flight" that effectively lowered the white population and increased both the Black segregation and social isolation indices as more Blacks moved into the same area.
I cannot do this book justice with a longer review, but this truly is worth a read. It helped me get out of the mindset that individual prejudices are the root cause of all Black marginalization and suffering. As a system, prejudice, public and private policy, intentional segregation, and the intensity of Black poverty are what have brought us to the current state of today.
Massey and Denton began by framing the important argument of how racial segregation, not individual prejudices or public/private policies and decisions alone, helped create Black poverty and the Urban Underclass. This central argument stuck with me throughout the book as the presentation of statistics and discussion were easy to follow. I can compare this to The Color of Law by Rothstein: although Rothstein was incredibly well researched as well, it read more like a textbook than a novel.
American Apartheid is the first book I've ever taken notes on. I wanted to not only do the subject matter justice, but also reference passages again, and quite frankly, add new words to my vocabulary.
One topic I'd like to touch on is hypersegregation. I read The New Jim Crow by Alexander last year, and I believe that was where I first heard of this term. Essentially, hypersegregation is where a race/ethnic group(in this case, Blacks) experience high levels of segregation across a range of measures. These measures include residential unevenness and isolation, as well as how clustered, concentrated and/or centralized neighborhoods are. The authors did a brilliant job at not only illustrating how hypersegregated Black communities are but succinctly compared the levels to other minority groups. Hispanics, while also poor and disadvantaged, "are never highly segregated on more than three dimensions." African Americans were hypersegregated in 16/30 metropolitan areas with the largest Black population in 1980, with at least 4/5 measures exceeding a high segregation index.
One of the more shocking parts of this account was how whites were surveyed in their attitude towards African Americans' right to live where they want. On paper, usually, a majority agreed they should have the freedom to choose where to live. However, when polled again, asked about their willingness to stay in a neighborhood as the Black population increased, less than half would be willing to stay. This was backed up by evidence of "white flight" that effectively lowered the white population and increased both the Black segregation and social isolation indices as more Blacks moved into the same area.
I cannot do this book justice with a longer review, but this truly is worth a read. It helped me get out of the mindset that individual prejudices are the root cause of all Black marginalization and suffering. As a system, prejudice, public and private policy, intentional segregation, and the intensity of Black poverty are what have brought us to the current state of today.
_nisha_singh's review against another edition
4.0
I mean, hard to rate what is considered a seminal work in urban inequality but I was assigned part of it for a class and read the rest on my own time so it was readable and easy to follow despite its inclusion of quantitative studies/analysis. From class I knew that this is often read in comparison to William Julius Wilson or specifically The Truly Disadvantaged so that may also add to the reading experience and better frame the argument if it feels too “obvious” an argument for an entire books worth of content, as some other reviews suggest. I took off a star because I thought the Public Policy chapter was a little wanting in terms of suggestions for the future besides “dismantling residential segregation” but perhaps that isn’t fair. Recommend as a basic, foundational read on racial inequality and concentrated poverty in the US!
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