How Did Court-Mandated School Desegregation Shape White Adults’ Politics and Racial Attitudes?

This study asks whether court-mandated school desegregation following Brown v. Board of Education had long-term impacts on White individuals’ racial attitudes and political views. Using geocoded General Social Survey (GSS) data and a difference-in-differences approach, the author identifies the causal effects of exposure to integrated schools during youth. Results show that desegregation significantly reduced political conservatism among White adults in the U.S. South by 0.35 standard deviations and increased positive racial attitudes by 0.081 standard deviations. The effect was weaker or nonexistent outside the South. The study provides new causal evidence supporting the contact hypothesis in school settings.

Full Citation and Link to Article

Mark Chin. (2024). The Impact of School Desegregation on White Individuals’ Racial Attitudes and Politics in Adulthood. Education Finance and Policy, 20(2), 185–233. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00428

Extended Summary

Central Research Question

This study investigates whether court-mandated school desegregation during the decades following Brown v. Board of Education caused long-term changes in the racial attitudes and political ideologies of White individuals. Specifically, it asks: What is the causal impact of exposure to racially integrated schools on the political conservatism and racial attitudes of White adults in the United States?

Previous Literature

Prior research has consistently shown that desegregation improved educational and socioeconomic outcomes for Black students without harming White students. These studies often rely on observational data and focus on short-term outcomes like test scores or graduation rates. However, less is known about the long-term effects of school integration on the political and racial attitudes of White individuals. Some research using more recent data suggests that racially diverse peer exposure can shift political affiliation and interpersonal attitudes (e.g., Billings, Chyn, and Haggag 2021; Kaplan, Spenkuch, and Tuttle 2021). However, earlier studies from the desegregation era lacked methodological rigor, causal identification, or national scope. This study fills that gap by using robust causal methods and a large, nationally representative dataset to evaluate how school integration influenced adult attitudes and political behavior.

The theoretical foundation of this study is grounded in Allport’s (1954) contact hypothesis, which posits that intergroup contact under favorable conditions can reduce prejudice. While this theory has been supported in many social settings, its application to historical school desegregation has not been fully tested with causal methods. Some scholars also point to the limitations of contact theory, including structural inequalities in integrated schools that could dampen or reverse the expected benefits. In addition, factors such as White flight, private school enrollment, or within-school segregation could affect the actual degree of interracial contact, complicating estimates of desegregation’s true impact on attitudes.

Data

The study uses geocoded data from the General Social Survey (GSS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults conducted biennially since 1972. The main analytic sample includes GSS data from 1993 to 2018, covering White respondents who report their county of residence at age 16 and the time of the survey. These data are merged with information on the timing and location of major court-ordered desegregation plans implemented between 1960 and 1990 in 74 school districts across 74 counties. The GSS provides rich individual-level data on demographics, socioeconomic status, and political and racial attitudes.

Three composite indices were created from 19 GSS items using factor analysis: (1) political conservatism, (2) positive attitudes toward Black individuals and racial equity policies, and (3) support for protecting racist speech. Additional variables included educational attainment, family income, and subjective social class. County-level demographic and political characteristics were sourced from the 1950 Census and 1952 presidential election returns. School district-level segregation measures were derived from Office of Civil Rights (OCR) data, including the White-Black exposure index and White disenrollment rates.

Methods

The empirical strategy employs a difference-in-differences (DID) design to estimate the causal effects of desegregation. The treatment group includes White adults who were under 18 years old when their county implemented a major desegregation plan. The control group includes older cohorts from the same counties and individuals from similar counties that never experienced court-mandated integration. By comparing changes in attitudes across cohorts within counties and relative to similar cohorts in comparison counties, the study isolates the causal impact of desegregation.

To ensure comparability between desegregating and non-desegregating counties, inverse propensity score weighting (IPW) is applied based on pre-treatment county characteristics such as urbanization, racial composition, political leaning, and economic indicators. Fixed effects for county, cohort, and integration timing are included. Sensitivity tests include event study models, alternative exposure windows (±8 or ±4 years instead of ±12), and models accounting for selective migration using data on residential mobility from the 1980 Census and local labor market areas (LMAs). The robustness of findings to sample restrictions and measurement error in treatment assignment is thoroughly explored.

Findings/Size Effects

The key finding is that school desegregation significantly reduced political conservatism among White individuals in the U.S. South. Exposure to desegregated schools led to a 0.35 standard deviation decrease in conservatism. Additionally, there was a 0.081 standard deviation increase in positive racial attitudes. These effects were statistically significant and specific to the South; there were no meaningful effects observed in other regions of the country.

When broken down into more interpretable outcomes, White Southerners exposed to desegregation were 18.34 percentage points more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate in the most recent presidential election and 16.47 percentage points more likely to reject cultural explanations for Black–White inequality. In contrast, no significant changes were found for support of protecting racist speech, either overall or by region.

The study also finds that the effectiveness of integration efforts varied geographically. Southern desegregation efforts generally resulted in greater White–Black contact and lower White disenrollment, suggesting more effective implementation. In non-Southern regions, weak implementation or higher levels of White flight may have diluted the potential for contact and attitudinal change.

Robustness checks confirm that results are not driven by selective in- or out-migration. Models that include more mobile respondents and assign treatment probabilistically using census mobility data produce consistent, though slightly attenuated, estimates. These models suggest that even when accounting for migration, the impact of desegregation on conservatism in the South remains sizable—about a 0.16 standard deviation reduction. The estimated effects from these expanded samples serve as conservative lower bounds.

Conclusion

This study provides the first causal, nationwide evidence that school desegregation in the decades following Brown v. Board of Education significantly shaped White individuals’ political and racial attitudes into adulthood. The strongest effects were found in the U.S. South, where desegregation policies were implemented with greater fidelity, leading to more interracial contact during formative years. The findings support the contact hypothesis and highlight the long-term civic benefits of integration policies—not only for racial minorities but also for dominant-group attitudes and political engagement.

The implications for contemporary education policy are substantial. While desegregation efforts face legal and logistical hurdles today, this research suggests that reducing racial isolation in schools can foster more inclusive, democratic values in future generations. Unlike other equity-focused reforms (e.g., school finance equalization), integration uniquely facilitates interpersonal contact across racial lines, a mechanism crucial for reducing prejudice and polarization. Policymakers weighing the costs and benefits of integration policies should consider these long-term civic outcomes alongside academic and economic metrics.

The study also cautions that integration must be implemented thoughtfully. The necessary conditions for effective intergroup contact—equal status, cooperative interaction, and institutional support—must be met. Otherwise, integration efforts may fail to produce desired outcomes or even exacerbate tensions. Thus, while desegregation alone is not a panacea, it remains a potent policy lever for promoting racial equity and reducing polarization in American society.