Conservative Protestant Congregations and Racial Residential Segregation: Evaluating the Closed Community Thesis in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties

• Published in: American sociological review 2007-06, Vol.72 (3), p.416-433
• Main Author: Blanchard, Troy C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Black people; Census of Population; Censuses; Churches; Communities; Community; Conservatism; Counties; Cultural values; Cultures and civilizations; Data analysis; Discrimination; Ethnic relations. Racism; Ghettos; Hispanic Americans; Housing; Hypotheses; Inequality; Loans; Metropolitan Areas; Minorities; Minority & ethnic groups; Neighborhoods; Protestant churches; Protestant theology; Protestantism; Protestants; Race; Race relations; Racial segregation; Real estate; Religion; Religious congregations; Religious organizations; Residential Patterns; Residential Segregation; Retirement communities; Role of Religion; Segregation; Social institutions; Social isolation; Society; Sociology; States; Studies; U.S.A; Urban communities; Value orientations; White people; Whites
• ISSN: 0003-1224; 1939-8271
• DOI: 10.1177/000312240707200305

Structural explanations of residential segregation usually focus on the role of discrimination in the real estate and mortgage lending industries in generating black-white residential segregation in metropolitan areas. However, these explanations overlook the role of social institutions in integrating or isolating groups in a community. To address this issue, I develop the closed community thesis and argue that the theological and value orientation of white Conservative Protestant congregations undermines the creation of bridging group ties. Drawing on county-level data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing and the 2000 Churches and Church Congregations data, I test the hypothesis that the number of Conservative Protestant congregations per 1,000 non-Hispanic whites is directly associated with levels of residential segregation between non-Hispanic blacks and whites. I find that counties with a large number of Conservative Protestant congregations exhibit higher levels of residential segregation along multiple dimensions. Separate models estimated by metropolitan status and region indicate that the effect of Conservative Protestant congregations is consistent across a variety of localities. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of the role of religion in explanations of residential segregation and the analysis of segregation outside of metropolitan areas.