Tolerance of School Desegregation, 1954-77

Bibliographic Data

ID2554865
AuthorsA Wade Smith (Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume59
Issue4
Pages1256
Publication date1981-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Forces (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2577992
OpenAlexW4241096478
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Predictions about changes in racial attitudes offered by Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma are tested using responses to questions on school desegregation from 16 surveys between 1954 and 1977. A flow graph model for difference equations involving categorical variables is used to organize responses from the survey pool totaling 22,505 respondents. Although there has been about a 30 percent increase in tolerance of school desegregation over time, cohort and education subgroups maintain consistent differences among themselves; and regional differences dissipate at a rate that can be approximated using a linear equation. Contrary to Myrdal's predictions, other findings indicate (1) only about 5 percent of the increase in tolerance is due to cohort replacement; (2) less than .4 percent of the increased racial tolerance is due to increased educational attainment; (3) cohort effects on educational attainment depress tolerance about .4 percent; and (4) more than 20 percent of the change in tolerance is due to increases among all educational and cohort groups

Cohort · Demographic economics · Desegregation · Dilemma · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Political science · Sociology · Statistics · Demography · Mathematics · Psychology · School Choice and Performance

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