BLAME DISCOURSE VERSUS REALISTIC CONFLICT AS EXPLANATIONS OF ETHNIC TENSION IN URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS

Urban neighborhoods are major sites of ethnic tension in the United St ates. One explanation (realistic conflict) attributes this tension to competing interests among ethnic groups that create neighborhood socia l problems, while another (blame discourse) attributes it to discursiv e practices that transform otherwise negotiable differences into ethni c conflict Analysis of interviews with 517 residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (ages 16-65 years) found considerable support for the dis course explanation. As both explanations predict, tension was greater among residents who experienced recent entry of ethnic newcomers and w hose neighborhoods had severe social problems. However, blame discours e played a key role in explaining these relations. The tension associa ted with recent entry was more related to communication of blame than to neighborhood problems. Problems were especially likely to be associ ated with tension when respondents' own ethnic groups were the target of blame. Consistent with the discourse explanation, respondents who l ived in cooperative neighborhoods reported less tension even when prob lems were severe. The results indicate that current ethnic tension may be created by discursive processes as much as or more than by realist ic conflicts of interests.