SOME EFFECTS OF URBANISM ON BLACK SOCIAL NETWORKS

Claude Fischer (1982a) has argued that urbanism increases the strength of urban subcultures and networks, including the networks and cultures of urban ethnic minorities. However, Fischer intentionally excluded predominantly black communities from his studies. Using the 1985 General Social Survey, which asked questions about social networks, and the 1982 General Social Survey, which oversampled blacks, it appears that the blackness of black networks is not strengthened by urbanism. There is even some evidence that it is weakened. © 1991.