Spatial mismatch and social acceptability

Research on spatial mismatch has focused on its effects oil job access, but not on the mechanisms through which the effects operate. We explore one su ch mechanism-namely, that blacks do not search for suburban jobs because th ey are not socially accepted in the suburbs. Using data from the Greater At lanta Neighborhood Study, we find that a black person's perception of his o r her acceptance in a job search area has a small, but statistically signif icant effect on the probability of searching for a job in that area. Limita tions associated with our measure of social acceptance suggest that the res ults should be considered suggestive. (C) 2001 Academic Press.