FACTOR LABELLING IN FACTORIAL ECOLOGY

ABSTRACT In the factorial ecology of American cities, the labels “socioeconomic status'’and “life cycle'’have been given to the two principal axes on the basis of several consistently related variables. If the general use of these names implies recurring processes of housing choice and city growth, which result in the observed residential patterns, then all variables related to these processes should exhibit consistent relationships to the principal axes. A systematic comparison of the loadings of variables for ten American cities reveals both consistencies and notable differences in the relationships of attributes to the two major dimensions. Careful attention to the characteristics of the populations submitted to the technique of factorial ecology is required to account for the variations, and may suggest new or refined explanations for the spatial relationships. Regional variations in social stratification, demographic characteristics, occupational structure, local housing market conditions and prefere...

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