Panethnicity and Ethnic Resources in Residential Integration: A Comparative Study of Two Host Societies

The racial and ethnic structure of a host society as well as its institutional and ideological context of integration shape the ethnic integration process. To examine these forces for residential integration, this study compares three panethnic groups in Canada and the United States using tabular data from the 2001 Canadian and the 2000 US censuses. Two ways in which the social context is important are identified. First, the social context affects how groups are distributed across urban neighbourhoods. As expected, being a Black ethnic group meant being less segregated in Canada than in the US but Asian groups were more segregated, controlling for group characteristics and the urban and regional context. White ethnic groups in both countries were similarly segregated. Second, the social context influences the process of incorporation itself. The effect of ethnic resources, in terms of acculturation and socio-economic status, was dependent on the group and host society. The results demonstrate that the national context plays a significant role in the way panethnic group membership influences the spatial processes of ethnic groups in the urban neighbourhoods of the two host societies