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Isolation Index×Index of Dissimilarity×
FieldSociologySociology
FamilyProcess / pipelineProcess / pipeline
Year of origin19541955
OriginatorWendell Bell (formalization of P* indices)Otis Dudley Duncan & Beverly Duncan
TypeExposure-dimension segregation indexIndex of evenness of two groups across units
Seminal sourceBell, W. (1954). A probability model for the measurement of ecological segregation. Social Forces, 32(4), 357–364. DOI ↗Duncan, O. D., & Duncan, B. (1955). A methodological analysis of segregation indexes. American Sociological Review, 20(2), 210–217. DOI ↗
AliasesP* isolation index, interaction index, exposure index, Bell isolation indexdissimilarity index, Duncan index, D index, segregation index
Related55
SummaryThe isolation index measures the exposure dimension of segregation: the extent to which members of a minority group are exposed only to one another rather than to members of other groups. It answers the question 'what is the own-group share of the typical neighbor (or classmate, or coworker) that a member of the focal group encounters?' Unlike evenness measures, it depends on the relative size of the group as well as its spatial distribution.The index of dissimilarity, often called the Duncan segregation index, measures how unevenly two groups — such as two racial or occupational groups — are distributed across a set of units like neighborhoods, schools, or occupations. It ranges from 0, when both groups have identical distributions across units, to 1, when the units are completely segregated, and has the intuitive interpretation of the share of one group that would have to relocate to achieve an even distribution.
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ScholarGateCompare methods: Isolation Index · Index of Dissimilarity. Retrieved 2026-06-24 from https://scholargate.app/en/compare