SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 19, 47-61 (19%) Racial Composition and Neighborhood Evaluation CRAIG ST. JOHN AND NANCY A. BATES Department of Sociology. University of Oklahoma Data on residential segregation imply whites are averse to living in integrated neighborhoods even though survey data show prejudiced attitudes toward blacks are decreasing. This aversion could be due to whites associating crime and deterioration with black neighborhoods instead of being a reaction to racial composition or it could be due to the persistence of race as a master status in the United States with black neighborhoods perceived as having low status regardless of accompanying characteristics. The factorial survey method was used to create vignette neighborhoods in which racial composition, crime, de- terioration, and other neighborhood characteristics are unrelated. A random sample of adults in a southwestern metropolitan area was asked to evaluate these vignettes. Controlling for neighborhood characteristics, racial composition was found to have a significant effect on neighborhood evaluaton, supporting the race as master status explanation. 0 1990 Academic Press. Inc. Survey research strongly suggests that in the United States white attitudes toward blacks have become less prejudiced in the last 3 decades (Campbell, 1971; Greeley and Sheatsley, 1971; Taylor, Sheatsley, and Greeley, 1978; Condran, 1979; Schuman, Steeh, and Bobo, 1985; Smith, 1985; Firebaugh and Davis, 1988). A more tolerant attitude on the part of whites toward residential integration appears to be part of this trend (Bradburn, Sudman, and Gockel, 1971; Pettigrew, 1973; Farley, Bianchi, and Colasanto, 1979; Taylor 1979; Smith, 1982; Firebaugh and Davis, 1988; Schuman and Bobo, 1988). However, this tolerance pertains more to the general principle of integration than to actual inclinations for whites to live in integrated neighborhoods (Farley, Schuman, Bianchi, Colas- anto, and Hatchett, 1978; Farley et al., 1979; Taylor, 1979; Schuman and Bobo, 1988) or for blacks to have the legal means to force integration, such as open housing laws (Taylor, 1979; Schuman and Bobo, 1988). Consequently, racial segregation in U.S. cities remains high and virtually unchanging (Taeuber, 1983; Massey and Denton, 1987). Correspondence and reprint requests should be sent to Craig St. John, Sociology, Uni- versity of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019. 47 0049-089X/90 $3.00 Copyright 0 1990 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.