Eating together apart: Patterns of segregation in a multi-ethnic cafeteria

Research on segregation has tended to focus on relations located at a macro-spatial level of analysis and unfolding in contexts where boundaries to interaction are formally established. This research, by contrast, investigated segregation as a micro-ecological process by observing patterns of seating in a multi-ethnic cafeteria. A total of 3114 seating positions were coded over a 2-week period and the resulting data were analysed using both adapted segregation indices (P and D) and loglinear and logistic regression techniques. The results suggested that ethnic segregation existed both at the level of interactional groups and in the form of broader patterns of racial clustering and dispersal in the cafeteria. Moreover, the magnitude of segregation was predicted by the gender composition of seating groups and by variations in the density of the cafeteria's population over time. Some implications of these results for social psychological research on contact and desegregation are considered. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.