Neighborhood Poverty and the Social Isolation of Inner-City African American Families
Author(s)
Rankin, Bruce H.; Quane, James M.
Abstract
Despite claims that social isolation is an important factor in explaining the problems plaguing many inner-city communities, thus far there have been few empirical tests of the social isolation thesis. The purpose of this research is to reassess the role of neighborhood poverty in the social isolation of inner-city residents — in particular, the relative importance of individual and family characteristics and neighborhood poverty in the type of social networks and organizations that individuals are exposed to. A central concern is to determine the extent to which the social isolation of poor ghetto residents is due to the fact that they are poor and otherwise disadvantaged and the extent to which it is due to the fact that they live in poor neighborhoods where opportunities for interaction with socially connected persons and access to institutional resources are limited.
