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Over the past few decades, newer explanations for residential segregation have been offered to complement and extend older ones. The classic human ecology view is that the uneven distribution of resources in space is the result of competition among groups. Some groups have more resources to secure locations associated with better resources. Alba and Logan (1991) suggested that it is not just a matter of which groups are more resourceful, but that some groups are more capable of converting their socioeconomic resources into more favorable locations. These observations explain how groups are segregated in space with different resources, but they do not explain why resources are distributed unevenly in space. Lefebvre (1991 [1974]) argued that urban patterns reflect different modes of production. For example, in cities where the manufacturing industry provides employment for residents, low-income neighborhoods with inexpensive housing are usually located close to factories as a result of factory workers trying to reduce their travel cost to work. The current state of the economy and capital actively shapes space for its exchange value, because space is increasingly lucrative. That is why many treat purchasing a house as an investment. To achieve a location with higher exchange value, some neighborhoods with better physical and social amenities have to be appropriated (Molotch 1993).

Another recent body of research seeks to conceptualize the different boundaries that create and maintain segregation. In Chapter 1, we described segregation based on the extent of physical and social distance between groups. Groups living in separate neighborhoods are segregated through physical distance. Being segregated through physical distance usually implies there is also social distance because physical distance constrains opportunities for social interaction. Most conventional research into residential segregation focuses on situations where groups live in separate neighborhoods (i.e. physical and social distance). However, scholars are increasingly studying segregation where there is social distance despite physical closeness between groups. This kind of segregation is created and maintained through a variety of boundaries and processes of exclusion.

How can we conceive of the boundaries of segregation? Alexander (1988) offered one approach by conceiving boundaries as consciously and unconsciously drawn in both the internal (“soft”) and external (“hard”) environments. Hard boundaries are relatively objective and measurable components of the external environment, such as the physical and social structures that make someone distinctive or locate where they spend time and with whom. These boundaries tend to distinguish status groups and prevent resource sharing. For example, a hard boundary may be a rigid physical divide (e.g. a gate separating rich and poor communities), an embodied (physical) difference (e.g. tattoos, religious insignia), or a social structural division with deep historical roots (e.g. racially segmented labor markets) (see Table 2.1). Hard boundaries in place today are likely to have been built up over time, engrained through pervasive socialization, reproduced in daily routines, and visible through clear signposts (e.g. manifested in spatial, temporal, and ecological patterns, organizational affiliations, explicit contracts, legal restrictions, and physical embodiments). For example, social media are considered to have hard boundaries because only those who are registered and/or approved can participate in their activities. Communication occurs only within the networks of registered participants.

Table 2.1 Segregation and boundaries

	Physical segregation	Social segregation
Soft boundaries	Ethnic neighborhood	Friendship pattern
Hard boundaries	Gated communities, racially segmented labor market	Social media (e.g. WhatsApp groups)

Soft boundaries are cultural, symbolic, and personal. They are less observable than hard boundaries because they are drawn within people’s minds. Soft boundaries include individual and collective representations, classifications, attitudes, and personae, including stereotypes, scripts, and schemas that guide actors in their daily interactions and responses to routine situations. Soft boundaries are often rooted in exposure to different processes of socialization and social control. Based on past experience, groups assign their own valuations to objects, people, practices, and settings. Soft boundaries are subjective, contingent, and interpretative (Alexander 1988), emerge situationally, and do not interpenetrate across levels and systems (Parsons 1951). In sum, distinguishing various boundaries of segregation offers a useful way to theorize segregation, and offers new opportunities for empirical research.