“Hunkering Down or Hunkering Away?” The Effect of Community Ethnic Diversity on Residents' Social Networks

Abstract

We identify two issues with the current literature suggesting that community ethnic diversity undermines social capital: (1) studies predominantly use attitudinal indicators of social capital; and (2) these attitudinal indicators are neighbourhood specific. We suggest the "size" of, and "frequency of interaction" within, individuals' social networks form more valid indicators of social capital. Thus it remains unknown: (1) whether diversity undermines individuals' social connectivity or only attitudes towards neighbours; or (2) whether diversity undermines individuals' total levels of social connectivity or only neighbourhood connectivity. We demonstrate that diversity negatively predicts both local trust and local social connectivity. However, diversity does not negatively predict individuals' total levels of connectivity. From a social connectivity perspective, diversity may undermine local social capital yet exert little effect on individuals' total levels of social capital. Instead, individuals in diverse communities possess equally sized (and active) but less neighbourhood-centric networks. However, this appears dependent on the ability to maintain dispersed social networks: less mobile individuals (e.g. the elderly) report both lower local and lower total social capital in diverse communities.

School ethnic diversity and White students’ civic attitudes in England

“…Soroka et al, 2004;Delhey and Newton, 2005;Putnam, 2007;Hooghe et al, 2009;Dinesen and Sønderskov, 2012;Laurence, 2013 -for good reviews, see Tolsma, 2011 andMorales, 2013). However, these studies have examined the effect of diversity only in broader social contexts, where direct intercultural interaction is unlikely to happen.…”

Wider-community Segregation and the Effect of Neighbourhood Ethnic Diversity on Social Capital: An Investigation into Intra-Neighbourhood Trust in Great Britain and London

“…This has been found across numerous countries and even demonstrated longitudinally ( Laurence and Bentley, 2016 ). A more refined hypothesis therefore is that neighbourhood diversity has a caustic effect on intra- neighbourhood social capital ( Laurence, 2013 ). However, this emphasis on how the amount of diversity affects social capital has been criticised for its failure to account for segregation ( Hooghe, 2007 ; Uslaner, 2012 ).…”

Does Ethnic Diversity Have a Negative Effect on Attitudes towards the Community? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Causal Claims within the Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion Debate

“…Putnam (2007) suggests such explanations are implausible, as minorities would have to choose to select into neighbourhoods where cohesion is at its lowest, or more trusting/sociable individuals would select out of/not move into diverse communities. While selection based solely on prior tendencies towards trust/interaction may be unlikely (although see Laurence, 2013), it is not implausible that minorities are more likely to move into communities already exhibiting lower cohesion.…”

“…We also include a measure of % without degrees. This forms a distinct aspect of disadvantage, moderately correlated with material disadvantage (r ¼ 0.42), and akin to social-status disadvantage 8 (Laurence, 2013). Measures of the % of the community aged 65 þ years, % working in agriculture and number of persons per hectare, capture age structure, urbanity/rurality and population density respectively.…”