[453] MEASURING RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION IN AMERICAN CITIES Problems of Intercity Comparison

Following the lead of the Taeubers (1965), investigators typically calculate residential segregation scores for American cities using data on city blocks. Such indexes provide summary measures of segregation for cities, and it is no doubt for this reason that they have become so useful in analyzing residential patterns by race. Since the publication of Taeuber and Taeuber’s Negroes in Cities in 1965, residential segregation scores for blacks have come to be used not only for descriptive purposes, but also for developing theories of racial differentia-tion and inequality in American cities (see Roof, 1972; Jiobu and Marshall, 1971; Marshall and Jiobu, 1975). Although this research has extended our understanding of the role of segregation in race relations, its reliance upon block-based, central city data poses certain limitations. AUTHORS ’ NOTE: This paper reports on research supported by the National Science Foundation Grants Nos. 65-41243 and Soc-75-03438. We would like to express our appreciation to Jerry Wilcox for his technical assistance in the analysis of these data and to two anonymous readers for their comments and suggestions