Celebrating a Return to Jim Crow? A Reflexive Analysis and Methodological Query on Measuring Segregation

Glaeser and Vigdor (2012) recently declared 'the end of a segregated century'. Because America has returned to 1910 segregation levels, it has allegedly achieved transcendence over racism. After all, the authors note, government no longer endorses housing discrimination, all-white neighborhoods are extinct, and white racial attitudes have liberalized. Despite the proclamation, many questions regarding segregation remain unanswered by Glaeser and Vigdor. Namely, how can segregation be conceptualized and its measurement improved, what might alternative methods for analyzing it yield, and why does it matter in the first place? To prompt an overdue substantive and methodological discussion, we undertake a case study analysis of Cook County, Illinois to address these questions. Our analytic goal is to illuminate how segregation is a much more complex matter than many analyses reflect, and when this is taken into account, it becomes readily apparent that any assertions of racial transcendence are quite premature.