Since Americans tend to live together with people of similar occupation and income, and style of life, neighborhoods tend to be composed of people approximately equal in status. But Americans tend also to group together according to race. Negroes are largely contained in neighborhoods seen as low-status--usually as slums. This residential segregation of the Negro in neighborhoods almost always regarded as ones of lower status, and often in fact physically inferior, supports the Negro's caste inferiority in all the ways in which segregation generally does. But residential segregation is a crucial support for caste inferiority because it creates and reinforces so many other kinds of segregation, and because residence is an important manifestation of status and reward for achievement in America. The psychological effects of poor housing result in part from the social meaning of housing as an indicator of social status. Forced residential segregation is such a powerful reinforcer of caste position that it is not surprising that ghetto residents feel powerless, bitter, and alienated from the larger community. (Author/JM)