TY - JOUR

T1 - Contested Boundaries

T2 - Explaining Where Ethnoracial Diversity Provokes Neighborhood Conflict

AU - Legewie, Joscha

AU - Schaeffer, Merlin

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Concerns about neighborhood erosion and conflict in ethnically diverse settings occupy scholars, policy makers, and pundits alike; but the empirical evidence is inconclusive. This article proposes the contested boundaries hypothesis as a refined contextual explanation focused on poorly defined boundaries between ethnic and racial groups. The authors argue that neighborhood conflict is more likely to occur at fuzzy boundaries defined as interstitial or transitional areas sandwiched between two homogeneous communities. Edge detection algorithms from computer vision and image processing allow them to identify these boundaries. Data from 4.7 million time- and geo-coded 311 service requests from New York City support their argument: complaints about neighbors making noise, drinking in public, or blocking the driveway are more frequent at fuzzy boundaries rather than crisp, polarized borders. By focusing on the broader sociospatial structure, the contested boundaries hypothesis overcomes the “aspatial” treatment of neighborhoods as isolated areas in research on ethnic diversity.

AB - Concerns about neighborhood erosion and conflict in ethnically diverse settings occupy scholars, policy makers, and pundits alike; but the empirical evidence is inconclusive. This article proposes the contested boundaries hypothesis as a refined contextual explanation focused on poorly defined boundaries between ethnic and racial groups. The authors argue that neighborhood conflict is more likely to occur at fuzzy boundaries defined as interstitial or transitional areas sandwiched between two homogeneous communities. Edge detection algorithms from computer vision and image processing allow them to identify these boundaries. Data from 4.7 million time- and geo-coded 311 service requests from New York City support their argument: complaints about neighbors making noise, drinking in public, or blocking the driveway are more frequent at fuzzy boundaries rather than crisp, polarized borders. By focusing on the broader sociospatial structure, the contested boundaries hypothesis overcomes the “aspatial” treatment of neighborhoods as isolated areas in research on ethnic diversity.

U2 - 10.1086/686942

DO - 10.1086/686942

M3 - Journal article

VL - 122

SP - 125

EP - 161

JO - American Journal of Sociology

JF - American Journal of Sociology

SN - 0002-9602

IS - 1

ER -