The inconsistency in research investigations of the process of white flight is especially evident when social scientists become actors in the legal drama surrounding the desegregation of public schools. Social science "experts" for the contending litigants often present contradictory evidence. The resultant ambiguity allows judges and…

The flight of white families from communities in response to school desegregation can be calculated as a "cost" of desegregation, and can be analyzed in relation to the "net benefit"--interracial contact--of various school desegregation plans. Moreover, mass media and minimally, community leadership, affect the rate of white…