Abstract
This paper advances a contingent perspective of residential segregation that recognizes it as a universal phenomenon of residential differentiation, yet one that results from different causal processes and which results in different spatial outcomes. The analytical separation of groups, contexts and scale is key to understanding the nature of segregation, i.e., what it signifies to the group and to the host society. We argue that segregation is created and maintained by different choices and constraints occurring across dimensions of production, reproduction and consumption. Spatial outcomes vary considerably, and may be arrayed in regard to the permanence of segregation, whether it facilitates identity maintenance, and whether segregation itself empowers or marginalizes the ethnic population. To demonstrate our approach, we analyze the segregation experiences of Chinese ethnics. Our argument is organized around the global, national and local scales at which causal processes shape the Chinese experience of segregation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J.P. Turner E., 1996: Ethnic diversity and segregation in the New Los Angeles. In: Roseman C., Laux H.-D. and Thieme G. (eds), EthniCity: Geographic Perspectives on Ethnic Change in Modern Cities. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Anderson K., 1987: The idea of Chinatown: the power of place and institutional practice in the making of a racial category. Ann. Asso. Am. Geogr. 77: 580–594.
Anderson K., 1991: Vancouver' Chinatown: Racial discourse in Canada, 1875-1980. McGill-Queen' University Press, Montreal.
Bartelt D.W., 1997: Urban housing in an era of global capital. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sci. 551: 121–136.
Barth F. (ed.), 1969: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
Bashi V.I. and Hughes M.A., 1997: Globalization and residential segregation by race. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sci. 551: 105–120.
Blakely E.J. and Snyder M.G., 1997: Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Boal F., 1978: Ethnic residential segregation. In: Herbert D.T. and Johnston R.J. (eds), Social Areas in Cities: Processes, Patterns and Problems, pp. 57–95. Wiley, Chichester, UK.
Bose N., 1966: Calcutta: a premature metropolis. Scientific American 213: 91–102.
Bonacich E., 1973: A theory of middleman minorities. Am. Soc. Rev. 38: 583–594.
Brown K., 1981: Race, class and culture: towards a theorization of the 'choice/constraint’ concept. In: Jackson P. and Smith S. (eds), Social Interaction and Ethnic Segregation, pp. 185–204. Academic Press, London.
Castles S. and Miller M.J., 1993: The Age of Migration. Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.
Clark W.A.V., 1986: Residential segregation in American cities: a review and interpretation. Popul. Res. Pol. Rev. 5: 95–127.
Cohen R., 1997: Global Diasporas: An Introduction. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
Crissman L., Beattie G. and Selby J., 1998: The Chinese in Brisbane: segmentation and integration. In: Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H. (eds), The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Curtin P., 1984: Cross-Cultural Trade in World History. Cambridge University Press, London.
Ellis M., 2000: 'Mark one or more': counting and projecting by race on US Census 2000 and beyond. Soc. Cult. Geogr. 1(2): 183–195.
Ellis M. and Wright R., 1998: The balkanization metaphor in the analysis of U.S. immigration. Ann. Asso. Am. Geogr. 88(4): 686–698.
Esman M., 1986: The Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. In: Sheffer G. (ed.), Modern Diasporas in International Politics. St. Martin' Press, New York.
Espritu Y.L., 1992: Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Ettlinger N, and Kwon S., 1994: Comparative analysis of U.S. urban labor markets: Asian immigrant groups in New York and Los Angeles. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 85: 417–433.
Fincher R. and Jacobs J.M. (eds), 1998: Cities of Difference. The Guilford Press, New York & London.
Fitzgerald C.P., 1964: The Chinese View of Their Place in theWorld. Oxford University Press, London.
Fong E., 1996: A comparative perspective on racial residential segregation: American and Canadian experiences. Sociol. Quart. 37: 199–226.
Fong T., 1994: The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Freedman A., 2000: Political Participation and Ethnic Minorities: Chinese Overseas in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States. Routledge, New York.
Frey W.H. and Farley R., 1996: Latino, Asian, and Black segregation in US metropolitan areas: are multiethnic metros different?Demogr. 33: 35–50.
Fusfeld D.R. and Bates T., 1984: The Political Economy of the Urban Ghetto. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL.
Galster G., 1988: Residential segregation in American cities: a contrary review. Popul. Res. Pol. Rev. 7: 93–112.
Glazer N. and Moynihan D.P. (eds), 1975: Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Greene R.P., 1997: Chicago' new immigrants, indigenous poor, and edge cities. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sci. 551: 178–190.
Harvey D., 1989: The Urban Experience. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Hawley A.H., 1950: Human Ecology; A Theory of Community Structure. Ronald Press Co., New York.
Helper R., 1969: Racial Policies and Practices of Real Estate Brokers. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Holloway S.R., 2000: Identity, contingency, and the urban geography of race. Soc. Cult. Geogr. 1(2): 197–208.
Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H., 1998: The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Hugo G.J., 1996: Diversity down under: the changing ethnic mosaic of Sydney and Melbourne. In: Roseman C., Laux H.D. and Thieme G. (eds), EthniCity: Geographic Perspectives on Ethnic Change in Modern Cities. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Huttman E.D., 1991: Urban Housing Segregation of Minorities in Western Europe and the United States. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Jackson P. and Penrose J., 1994: Introduction: placing 'race’ and nation. In: Jackson P. and Penrose J. (eds), Constructions of Race, Place and Nation, pp. 1–23. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.
Jargowsky P.A., 1997: Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City. The Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
Kaplan D.H., 1992: Nationalism at a micro-scale: educational segregation in Montreal. Pol. Geogr. 11: 259–282.
Kaplan, D.H., 1998: The spatial structure of ethnic economies. Urban Geogr. 19: 489–501.
Kaplan, D.H. and Holloway S.R., 1998: Segregation in Cities. Association of American Geographers, Washington, DC.
Kotkin, J., 1993: Tribes: How Race, Religion, and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy. Random House, New York.
Laws G., 1997: Globalization, immigration, and changing social relations in U.S. cities. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sci. 551: 89–104.
Lee S., 1998: Asian Americans: diverse and growing. Popul. Ref. Bur. Popul. Bull. 53: 2.
Li W., 1998a: Anatomy of a new ethnic settlement: the Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angeles. Urban Studies 35: 479–501.
Li W. 1998b: Los Angeles' Chinese Ethnoburb: from ethnic service center to global economy outpost. Urban Geogr. 19: 502–517.
Li W., Dymski G., Zhou Y., Rodriguez C. and Chee M., 2000: Chinese American banking and ethnoburb in Los Angeles County: the financial sector and community development. Presentation to the Association of American Geographers, Pittsburgh, PA.
Light I., 1984: Immigrant and ethnic enterprises in North America. Ethnic and Racial Studies 7: 195–216.
Lin J., 1998: Reconstructing Chinatown: Ethnic Enclave, Global Change. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Marcuse P., 1997a: The enclave, the citadel, and the ghetto: what has changed in the post-Fordist U.S. city. Urban Affairs Rev. 33: 228–264.
Marcuse P., 1997b: The ghetto of exclusion and the fortified enclave: new patterns in the United States. Am. Behav. Scient. 41: 311–326.
Massey D.S. and Denton N.A., 1993: American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
McCloud D.G., 1995: Southeast Asia: Tradition and Modernity in the Contemporary World. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Murphey R., 1954: The city as a center of change: Western Europe and China. Ann. Asso. Am. Geogr. 44: 330–341.
Musterd S. and de Winter M., 1998: Conditions for spatial segregation: some European perspectives. Int. J. Urb. Regio. Res. 22: 665–673.
Musterd S. and Ostendorf W., 1996: Ethnicity and the Dutch welfare state: the case of Amsterdam. In: Roseman C., Laux H.D. and Thieme G. (eds), EthniCity: Geographic Perspectives on Ethnic Change in Modern Cities. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Ong P. and Azores T., 1994: Asian immigrants in Los Angeles: diversity and divisions. In: Ong P., Bonacich E. and Cheng L. (eds), The New Asian Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Ong P., Bonacich E. and Cheng L., 1994: The political economy of capitalist restructuring and the new Asian immigration. In: Ong P., Bonacich E. and Cheng L. (eds), The New Asian Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Oxfeld E., 1998: The Chinese in Calcutta: the reproduction of Hakka identity. In: Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H. (eds), The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Pan L., 1994: Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora. Kodansha International, New York.
Park R.E., Burgess E.W. and McKenzie R. (eds), 1967 [1925]: The City. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Peach C., Robinson V. and Smith S. (eds), 1981: Ethnic Segregation in Cities. The University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA.
Perry M., Yong L. and Yeoh B., 1997: Singapore: A Developmental City State. Wiley, New York.
Portes A. and Manning R., 1986: The immigrant enclave: theory and empirical examples. In: Olzak S. and Nagel J. (eds), Competitive Ethnic Relations. Academic Press, Orlando.
Portes A. and Zhou M., 1992: Gaining the upper hand: economic mobility among immigrant and domestic minorities. Ethnic and Racial Studies 15: 491–522.
Pratt G., 1998: Grids of difference: place and identity formation. In: Fincher R. and Jacobs J.M. (eds), Cities of Difference, pp. 26-48.,The Guilford Press, New York & London.
Rodriguez N., 1995: The real 'New World Order': the globalization of racial and ethnic relations in the late twentieth century. In: Smith M. and Feagin J. (eds), The Bubbling Cauldron: Race, Ethnicity, and the Urban Crisis. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Roseman C., Laux H.D. and Thieme G. (eds), 1996: EthniCity: Geographic Perspectives on Ethnic Change in Modern Cities. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
Sedgwick C.P., 1998: The Chinese in New Zealand: persistence, change, and innovation. In: Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H. (eds), The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Tseng Y., 1994: Chinese ethnic economy: San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles County. J. Urb. Affairs 16: 169–189.
van Kempen R. and Marcuse P., 1997: A new spatial order in cities? Am. Behav. Scient. 41: 285–298.
van Kempen R. and Sule Özüekren A., 1998: Ethnic segregation in cities: new forms and explanations in a dynamic world. Urban Studies 35: 1631–1656.
Waldinger R., 1995: When the melting pot boils over: The Irish, Jews, Blacks, and Koreans of New York. In: Smith M.P. and Feagin J.R. (eds), The Bubbling Cauldron: Race, Ethnicity, and the Urban Crisis. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Waldinger R. and Tseng Y., 1992: Divergent diasporas: the Chinese communities of New York and Los Angeles compared. Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales 8: 91–115.
Wang G., 1991: China and the Chinese Overseas. Times Academic Press, Singapore.
Weightman G., 1998: The Chinese in the Philippines: from aliens to cultural minority. In: Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H. (eds), The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Wilson W.J., 1987: The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Wong B., 1998: The Chinese in New York City: Kinship and intermarriage In: Hsu F.L.K. and Serrie H. (eds), The Overseas Chinese: Ethnicity in National Context. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Wong M.G., 1989: A look at intermarriage among the Chinese in the US in 1980. Sociol. Perspect. 32(1): 87–107.
Yinger J., 1995: Closed Doors, Opportunities Lost: The Continuing Costs of Housing Discrimination. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
Zhou M., 1992: Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Zhou Y., 1998: How do places matter? A comparative study of Chinese ethnic economies in Los Angeles and New York City. Urban Geogr. 19: 531–553.
Zubrinsky C.L. and Bobo L., 1996: Prismatic metropolis: race and residential segregation in the City of Angels. Soc. Sci. Res. 25: 335–374.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaplan, D.H., Holloway, S.R. Scaling ethnic segregation: causal processes and contingent outcomes in Chinese residential patterns. GeoJournal 53, 59–70 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015822117915
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015822117915