Recent research suggests that residential mobility
can improve the lives of parents and children. Literature has
conceptualized the process under the rubric "mixed-income
housing," implicitly assuming that low-income people benefit
simply by being surrounded by affluent neighbors. However, affluence
may not be sufficient to accomplish benefits. This paper examines
an alternative "social capital hypothesis" — that
social norms and reciprocity provide a form of capital that gives
individuals increased capability. Using open-ended interviews
with low-income black mothers who moved to mostly white middle-class
suburbs, this paper presents a modest preliminary investigation
that tries to discover underlying processes. Our analysis suggests
that middle-class suburbs are both constraining and enabling to
these new residents. Mothers report that suburban norms constrained
their behaviors in some ways, but also liberated them in other
ways. The mothers also report social respon-siveness, which provided
resources. Just as the social capital hypothesis suggests, the
results suggest the productive power of norms and reciprocity
— participants acquired capabilities from living in the suburbs.
James Rosenbaum, School
of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University
Stefanie DeLuca, Program in Human Development
and Social Policy, Northwestern University
Tammy Tuck, Former research assistant, Institute
for Policy Research
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