The first concern of this thesis is to set out an interpretation of race relations in the zone of transition in British cities, expressed in terms of general categories of sociological analysis and variables which define the basic dimensions of the local social structure in which race relations are embedded. A second aim is to document the wide range of empirical situations in multi-racial zones of transition in cities in Britain. Rex and Moore's (1967a) study of Sparkbrook, Birmingham is at out in detail and studies of Cardiff, parts of London, Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle are briefly reviewed, before the presentation of data on residential succession and race relations in Moss Side Manchester. The documentation of significant differences in the pattern of racial succession leads to the third a1Jn, that is, to relate local differences in the process and consequences of the residential settlement of coloured immigrants to basic characteristics of the city, such as the nature of the economic base and the net migration balance. In particular, it is suggested that the pattern of racial succession will differ depending on whether coloured immigrants have moved into an area with an expanding industrial-based economy, a declining area or an area which is maintaining its prosperity through expansion in the tertiary sector. Birmingham is seen as an example of the first category and Manchester of the third. An examination of the relationship between trends in the economic structure and in the residential structure in the local area. suggests ways in which a comparative study of British cities might be developed. The fourth aim is to consider the theory of housing classes as set out by Rex and Moore, which has stimulated much analysis in this field. I conclude that as a theory-of classes in a market for housing, it is deficient in being concerned with the use rather than the disposal of housing and with interests generated over access to housing rather than possession of it. I discuss the possibilities of competition as well as conflict over housing and suggest a more 11m! ted analysis in terms c:£ interest groups rather than classes. I show the possible significance of urban movements based on recognition of common housing interests, but these are multi-racial in character and a feature of residential succession in Moss Side, Manchester, rather than Sparkbrook, 131rmingba.m. A fifth aim is to demonstrate a close association between the process of residential succession and the local pattern of race relations • .Again, contrasts are drawn between Sparkbrook, B1rm1ngham and Moss Side. The sixth aim is to account for this differing pattern of residential succession and race relations not as in Rex and Moore's account as a result of economic competition for housing, but as a consequence of reactions to differences in the way that housing is used by differing categories of landlords and residents. I demonstrate the close association between racial status and social status and argue that much of the pattern of race relations in some multi-racial transitional areas can be understood in terms of defensive reactions by residents who feel that the reputational status of the area is threatened by a particular form of residential succession in which single-family housing is split into multi-occupation and at the same time Changes from white to coloured occupancy or ownership.