This case study gauges the perceptions of teachers to the "harm and benefit thesis" of Coleman's social-capital hypothesis. The study uses data from one de facto segregated southern school system that hastily implemented a court order in 2000. The study collects the perceptions of teachers at five predominantly middle-class White schools…

Surveyed middle to upper middle class African Americans at three times following a 2000 court decision to desegregate schools in Louisiana's Lafayette Parish. Results indicated that although reactions were initially largely positive, these reactions turned negative after the reality of implementation (e.g., closing of black schools, busing of…