A new study finds that segregation is much more prevalent today than it was when the same poll was conducted in 2004, with two in every five white Americans now readily admitting they have no close friends outside of their race.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that same contention holds true for 25 percent of all Americans and that just 80 percent of all whites confess they have five or less friends outside of their race and 64 percent of all non-whites described their social landscapes in the same detail.
Back in 2004, a Gallup-themed poll quizzed interviewees on a similar set of issues and concluded that more than 80 percent of all races proudly insisted they had close, personal friends or acquaintances that were from other races./p>
The difference as day and night like changes don’t come as a great shock to Camille Zubrinsky Charles, a professor of sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and chief researcher of the study.
"There has been some progress, but whites and blacks in particular still tend to live in separate neighborhoods," she said in addressing the polarizing racial makeup of most neighborhood communities.
Researchers surmised that the "separate neighborhoods" somewhat explains the phenomenon involving the Latino populous, the highest ranking of all racial groups, in readily asserting they have numerous friends and associates of other makeups.
Researchers found a staggering 90 percent of all Latinos insist they have friends of different races. With that, interviewers note Hispanics largely reside in Western states where neighborhoods and communities, such as California and Texas, are typically far more diversely structured.
By geographical contrast, Southern populations, where nine of the 10 blackest states are found, prove to be far more dense and concentrated. Of those surveyed from those sectors, most interviewees were found to be likely to have less than five overall acquaintances from races other than their own.
Though an influx of Latino citizens has theoretically resulted in a greater level of proximity between blacks, whites and Hispanics, researchers concluded social networks remain such that each of those groups still, more or less, live as separate and distinct lives as many of those residing in other areas of the country.
The lone, irrefutable silver-lining found exists between younger generations. Researchers found only one in ten adults under the age of 30 contends no one among their families, friends or coworkers is of a different race, while 25 percent of that same generation even argue they have a partner or spouse in a relationship with someone of a different race.
"This country has a pretty long history of restriction on inter-racial contact for whites and blacks even though it’s in the past there are still echoes of this," said Ann Morning, an associate sociology professor at New York University. "Hispanics and Asian Americans have traditionally had less strict lines about integrating."
The results were taken from an online poll taken between July 25 and Aug. 6 of this year and include the responses of nearly 4,200 respondents.