Revisiting A Festival of Violence : Two Comments, A Response [Book Review]

When, more than thirty years ago, I was writing my second graduate research paper, I was strongly advised by the professor in the course, John Morton Blum, to stop trying to weigh the factors I hypothesized might have caused the phenomenon I was trying to explain. Just list all the causes for which there is any credible evidence, I was told; don’t even try to rank them, and certainly don’t waste your time attempting to reject any. It’s not the historian’s job, and it’s probably not possible, anyway. Tell a good story, with interesting characters and active verbs. If you must, explain, but above all, entertain-that was the Blumian credo. I largely ignored the adjuration, reinforcing the then-department chairman’s view of me as a rebel with too few causes

Neighborhood Immigration and Native Out-Migration

This study combines data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics with data from four censuses to examine the effects of foreign-born populations in the immediate neighborhood of residence and surrounding neighborhoods on the residential mobility decisions of native-born black and white householders. We find that the likelihood of out-mobility for native householders is significantly and positively associated with the relative size of, and increases in, the immigrant population in the neighborhood. Consistent with theoretical arguments related to the distance dependence of mobility, large concentrations of immigrants in surrounding areas reduce native out-mobility, presumably by reducing the attractiveness of the most likely mobility destinations. A sizable share of local immigration effects can be explained by the mobility-related characteristics of native-born individuals living in immigrant-populated areas, but the racial composition of the neighborhood (for native whites) and local housing market conditions (for native blacks) also are important mediating factors. The implications of these patterns for processes of neighborhood change and broader patterns of residential segregation are discussed

The Changing American Family: Sociological and Demographic Perspectives

vii, 304 hlm.; 24 c