Ethnic and class residential segregation: exploring their intersection – a multilevel analysis of ancestry and occupational class in Sydney

Abstract

Most studies of ethnic residential segregation recognise that occupational class is an important influence on the intensity of segregation of members of different ethnic groups, but are unable to explore variations in that intensity because of the lack of relevant data. Australian census data allow the class structure of different ancestry groups to be identified in small areas within cities. Such data for 17 ancestry groups in Sydney are used here to explore variations in segregation levels between classes within ancestry groups at three separate scales. To do this, a major extension to a recently-developed methodology for exploring multi-scale segregation patterns is introduced. The results show that for some groups class is more important than ancestry as an influence on segregation levels, whereas for others there is relatively little class segregation.