10/20/2008
Kevin Drakulich, Department of Sociology, University of Washington, will be presenting his job talk.
Title: “Black Strangers, Black Neighbors: A Contact Model of Stereotypes and Fear”
Abstract:
Residents systematically overestimate the risk of crime in neighborhoods with greater numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African-Americans. I suggest that a lack of positive interactions with members of other races allow stereotypes of racial and ethnic minorities as criminals to thrive, and that these stereotypes help explain this systematic misjudgment. Using a recent survey of Seattle residents, this paper comes to four conclusions about this hypothesis. First, supporting prior work, racial/ ethnic composition is a significant predictor of perceived neighborhood safety, even after accounting for exposure to crime. Second, supporting a contact hypothesis, inter-racial interactions are associated with decreased racial crime-stereotypes, as well as a decreased fear of burglary. Third, crime stereotypes about African-Americans reduce perceived neighborhood safety and increase fear of both violent and property victimization, while crime stereotypes about Asians also reduce perceived neighborhood safety. Fourth, the effect of crime stereotypes on fear is dependent on proximity to the target of the stereotypes: crime stereotypes about Latinos have the potential to raise or lower fears depending, in part, on the local Latino composition, while stereotypes about African-Americans more strongly increase fears among residents of African-American neighborhoods. However, a contact hypothesis appears to be an incomplete explanation: racial composition remains an important determinant of perceived neighborhood safety, and, to a lesser extent, fear of victimization, after inter-racial interactions and stereotypes are accounted for.
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