How do real estate professionals and housing market actors actively perpetuate racial segregation in modern American cities? Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, a sociologist specializing in urban inequality, utilizes extensive ethnographic research and interviews to argue that housing markets are not neutral mechanisms but are instead shaped by the routine, often subtle, decisions of brokers, lenders, and appraisers. By examining the daily operations of these market actors, the author demonstrates how systemic racial disparities are reinforced through professional practices and institutional norms in the 21st century.

Experts in urban sociology and housing policy identify this work as a significant contribution to understanding the micro-level mechanisms of systemic segregation. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the ethnographic approach and the clarity with which the author connects individual professional actions to broader societal outcomes.