Sociology 101: Introduction to SociologyDue: April 8, 2022
Assignment 2: Neighborhood Analysis & Stratification
For your second extended assignment, I ask you to collect and analyze the aggregate quantitative
data to explore the demographic composition of your home neighborhood. The purpose of this
task is to connect your personal experiences to quantitative, empirical reality. In other words, I
ask you to consider how your lived experiences match up with survey data drawn from your
place of origin. To this end, you will access the US Census Bureau’s community data and isolate
it to your home neighborhood. An important (some would say the most important) part of your
final project involves collecting, presenting and interpreting some basic demographic data for
your city or neighborhood in question. You will need to use a database to find this data and
create a table, which will be an important part of your final paper. Fortunately, we have an
excellent source of community level data available to us as Americans – the American
Community Survey, which is essentially a long-form version of the census performed every year
on 1% of the American population.
A large body of research in sociology uses either the central city (as part of the metropolitan
statistical area) or the census tract to as the base unit of analysis. Census tracts try to
approximate neighborhoods, whereas cities/towns are political units. When you retrieve
information about your city or tract, you may find that it is a little larger or smaller than what you
consider your area of interest to be (the average population of a tract is between 3,000-5,500
people, for example). The information you need is housed in a simple by powerful data table:
S0601, Selected Characteristics of the Total and Native Populations in the United States. But
first, you must identify the smallest unit of analysis you can get aggregate data for: the census
tract. First, please access this link:
h ps://geomap. ec.gov/FFIECGeocMap/GeocodeMap1.aspx
Then, use the following steps to locate your census tract:
1. Type in a full address at the top of the screen in the search bar.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll see “Tract Code.” Write this number down,
removing any zeros at the beginning of the number.
ffi
tt
Access the Census Bureau’s data search engine here:
h ps://data.census.gov/cedsci/advanced
Then, please follow these steps EXACTLY to acquire your data:
1. In the left-hand bar, find the “advanced Search” bar and type “S0601.” Do NOT hit
search yet.
2. On the left-hand side under “Find a Filter,” Click on “Geography”
3. Click on “Tract.”
4. Click on your state.
5. Click on your county.
6. From the listed options, find your tract, matching it to the number you found in the first
step. Click it and confirm you see a checkmark next to the tract option.
7. Return to the search bar and type “S0601.” His the search button.
8. The first option should be a table titled “Selected Characteristics of the Total and Native
Populations in the United States.” Click on this link.
9. A table will appear. Ensure that you are using “2019 ACS 5-Year Estimates.”
10. Record the following variables:
1. S0601: Selected Characteristics of the Total & Native Populations
1. Median Age.
2. Percent Male.
3. Percent Female.
4. Median Age.
5. Percent Married.
6. Percent Married.
7. Percent White.
8. Percent Black.
9. Percent Asian.
tt
10. Percent Hispanic/Latino of any race.
11. Percent less than high school graduate.
12. Percent High School graduate
13. Percent Bachelor’s degree or greater (IMPORTANT – add the Bachelors
and Grad/Professional categories).
14. Median income.
15. Percent in poverty.
11. Repeat the above steps, but choose “State” as your geographical unit of analysis and
navigate to find the city this tract is housed in.
Using your newly created data table to guide you, you will produce a paper about race/ethnicity,
gender and social class in the community you call home. See below for the expectations of you
in this paper.
I have provided in example for the neighborhood I grew up in: a section of South Yonkers, New
York. You may use my table as an example to guide your work.
Table 1: Comparison of Census Tract 4.01 (Yonkers, New York) to City, County & State Values
Variable
Tract
State
Population
4,191
19,572,319
Median Age
32.2
38.3
Demography
% Male
45.6%
48.5%
% Female
54.4%
51.5%
% Married
35.5%
45.0%
% White
33.9%
63.7%
% Black
44.1%
15.7%
% Hispanic/Latino
40.2%
19.0%
% Asian
6.9%
8.4%
% Less than HS
17.9%
13.2%
% High School
23.3%
26.0%
% Bachelor’s Degree or greater
32.6%
36.5%
Median Income
35.649
33,562
% in Poverty
18.0%
14.0%
Race/Ethnicity
Education
Social Class
Paper Expectations:
I expect your paper to have five sections:
1. An introduction, in which you describe both your hometown and your specific
neighborhood.
2. A discussion of how your neighborhood’s income level and poverty rates compare to
the state averages – use your sociological imagination to make some points about
social class in your home community.
3. A discussion of how your neighborhood’s age/sex structures compare to the state
averages – use your sociological imagination to make some points about gender in
your home community.
4. A discussion of how your neighborhood’s race/ethnic structures compare to the state
averages – use your sociological imagination to make some points about race &
ethnicity in your home community.
5. A personal reaction/reflection regarding the data from your neighborhood. What did
you learn from this exercise? How has the community you grew up in affected you?
Requirements:
Formatting: The paper will be 6-7 typed pages in Times New Roman 12 point font with 1 inch
margins on all sides. Please double space your paper’s body, but single space your heading.
Failure to follow the formatting guidelines will result in a penalty to your grade.
Submission: You will submit a hard copy at the beginning of class. If you have printer problems, or
do not attend class that day, you may submit a version to me by email and receive a lateness penalty
of 10 points per day late.
Citations: You will include in-text citations that include the page number for any reference to the
book or assigned media. Additional citations are welcome, but not required. If you cite additional
sources, you must include a work cited page and you will cite your sources in a consistent and
scholarly manner (ASA, APA, or MLA formats are acceptable).
Plagiarism: Your paper will not be plagiarized in any way. This means that your paper will be
exclusively your work, no part of it will not be fabricated, and all work will be produced specifically
for this assignment. Plagiarism includes making minor alterations to large chunks of text, and
submitting it as your own work. A large portion of this assignment is to demonstrate that you
understand the material, that you can apply the material in the real world, and that you are capable
of thinking and writing about sociological concepts and processes. Plagiarizing the work of others
does none of these things. If I suspect academic misconduct, I will report it to the appropriate
committee without hesitation.