Changing Patterns of Suburban Racial Composition, 1970-1980

Abstract

The question addressed by this study is whether or not the increase in black suburbanization during the 1960s, and especially, during the 1970s, has affected the patterns of suburban racial change described for earlier decades. Patterns of suburban racial change during the 1970-1980 decade are examined for a sample of 1,114 American suburbs. It was found that during the 1970s, racial change in suburbs became more prevalent, with invasion-succession emerging as the dominant type of change in northern suburbs. In southern suburbs, invasion-succession and parallel-development (growing) patterns of racial change also occurred with greater relative frequency than in previous decades.