Abstract
Ethnic discrimination in the housing market has long been seen as a cause of residential segregation and social inequality. While research has investigated the existence and extent of discrimination with regard to written applications for housing, little is known about personal inquiries via telephone. This study reports on findings from a telephone audit study that has allowed us to estimate the impact of (ethnic) accents and to distinguish between taste-based and statistical discrimination. We find no significant discrimination against callers with Turkish names. However, callers with both a Turkish name and accent were invited to view apartments significantly less often. Information about steady employment compensated for this disadvantage to a large extent. We conclude that statistical discrimination plays a major role in explaining why persons of Turkish origin receive fewer invitations to view apartments.
Zusammenfassung
Ethnische Diskriminierung auf dem Wohnungsmarkt wird seit langem als Ursache für Wohnsegregation und soziale Ungleichheit angesehen. Bisher wurde das Bestehen und Ausmaß ethnischer Diskriminierung anhand schriftlicher Anfragen untersucht, über den üblicheren Weg mittels persönlicher oder telefonischer Anfragen ist wenig bekannt. Wir berichten Ergebnisse eines Telefonexperiments, das es erlaubt, den Einfluss von Akzenten zu schätzen und zwischen präferenzbasierter und statistischer Diskriminierung zu unterscheiden. Wir finden keine signifikante Diskriminierung gegenüber Anruferinnen und Anrufern mit türkischem Namen. Allerdings wurden Anruferinnen und Anrufer mit türkischem Namen und türkischem Akzent signifikant seltener eingeladen. Ein positives Signal zur Berufstätigkeit konnte diesen Nachteil zu einem großen Teil ausgleichen. Wir schließen daraus, dass statistische Diskriminierung entscheidend zur Erklärung beiträgt, warum Personen türkischer Herkunft weniger Einladungen zu Wohnungsbesichtigungen erhalten.
Note
This work was supported by grants from the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) at the University of Mannheim and the German Research Foundation (DFG, grant No. ES 41/21–1).
About the authors
Andreas Horr, geb. 1979 in Ochsenhausen. Studium der Soziologie in Mannheim und Bloomington. Seit 2006 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Mannheim, seit 2016 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe.
Forschungsschwerpunkte: Migration und Integration, Soziale und ethnische Ungleichheit, Diskriminierung, Kontexteffekte.
Wichtigste Publikationen: Ethnische und soziale Unterschiede der Wohnungssuche und Wohnortwahl. S. 397–430 in F. Hillmann & M. Windzio (Hrsg.), Migration und städtischer Raum, Opladen & Farmington Hills: Budrich UniPress, 2008. Nachbarschaftseffekte. S. 175–192 in: C. Diehl, C. Hunkler & C. Kristen (Hrsg.), Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf. Wiesbaden: Springer, 2016.
Christian Hunkler, geb. 1979 in Schwetzingen. Studium der Sozialwissenschaften in Mannheim, Utrecht und Bloomington. Promotion in Mannheim. Von 2007–2011 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Mannheim, von 2009–2011 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), seit 2011 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Max-Planck-Institut für Sozialrecht und Sozialpolitik.
Forschungsschwerpunkte: Altern und Produktivität, Migration und Integration, Geschlechterungleichheit auf dem Arbeitsmarkt.
Wichtigste Publikationen: Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf (Hrsg. mit C. Diehl & C. Kristen), Wiesbaden: Springer, 2016; The Optimism Trap: Migrants’ Educational Choices in Stratified Education Systems, Social Science Research 67, 2017: 213–228 (mit J. Tjaden).
Clemens Kroneberg, geb. 1980 in Darmstadt. Studium der Sozialwissenschaften in Heidelberg und Mannheim. Promotion in Mannheim. Von 2004–2010 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter und von 2011–2013 Juniorprofessor für Soziologische Theorie an der Universität Mannheim; seit 2013 Professor für Soziologie an der Universität zu Köln.
Forschungsschwerpunkte: Soziologische Theorie, Migration und Integration, soziale Grenzziehungen, Kriminalität, Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften.
Wichtigste Publikationen: Struggling over the boundaries of belonging. A formal model of nation building, ethnic closure, and populism. American Journal of Sociology 118, 2012: 176–230 (mit A. Wimmer); Rational Choice Theory and Empirical Research. Methodological and Theoretical Contributions in Europe. Annual Review of Sociology 38, 2012: 73–92 (mit F. Kalter); Die Erklärung sozialen Handelns. Grundlagen und Anwendung einer integrativen Theorie, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2011.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to Hartmut Esser and Frank Kalter for their support and valuable comments, as well as to the anonymous reviewers who contributed to the improvement of this paper. We also want to thank Harald Beier, Robert Koch, Gregor Sand, Meike Thüsing, Sebastian Weingartner, and especially Kathrin Shirbini for their support in planning, organizing, and conducting the study.
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Supplemental Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2018-1009).
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