Events

How do neighborhoods affect the people who live in them? I suggest that one important way is by what they expose people to—the conditions and physical establishments that residents encounter daily. I examine whether one form of exposure affects people’s attitudes. Alternative financial institutions such as payday lenders (PDLs) are much more likely to be located in majority-black neighborhoods, leading African Americans to experience uncommonly high exposure rates. I ask whether such exposure contributes to racial differences in attitudes about PDLs. Based on original survey (n=3,100), experimental, and qualitative data with hundreds of respondents of all racial backgrounds, I find strong evidence that neighborhood exposure to PDLs improves attitudes toward them. The mechanisms behind the improved attitudes are convenience, concrete experience, and comparative assessment, as negative experiences in banks play a role. I discuss implications for our understanding of the role of neighborhood conditions in economic inequality. 

The Sociology Seminar Series for Trinity Term is convened by Kasimir Dederichs, Said Hassan and Anica Waldendorf..  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.