Immigration-Related Diversity and Trust in German Cities: The Role of Intergroup Contact

Ethnic diversity and well-being

“…On the one hand, and mostly in the US, ethnic diversity is negatively correlated with social capital or cohesion measured by trust, altruism, reciprocity, cooperation and civic engagement (e.g., Portes, 1998, Alesina et al, 1999, Alesina and La Ferrara, 2002, Putnam, 2007. On the other hand, other studies found that ethnic diversity is either not negatively related to social trust, or it is even positively correlated to it (e.g., Kazemipur, 2006 for Canada, Sturgis et al, 2011 andSturgis et al, 2014 for the UK, and Stolle et al, 2013 for Germany). Moreover, some studies found positive effects of ethnic diversity on the labor market outcomes of both natives and immigrants through gains in productivity (Ottaviano and Peri, 2005, Trax et al, 2015, Suedekum et al, 2014, Glitz, 2014 as well as increases in innovation (Hewlett et al, 2013).…”

School ethnic diversity and White students’ civic attitudes in England

“…The difference with the first hypothesis is that a lack of a relationship between diversity and trust is not necessarily a sign of a selection effect or of the unresponsiveness of trust to school conditions. Further, in view of the finding of Stolle et al (2013) noted above, the inter-group interaction in educational settings may insulate members of the dominant group who are faced with an influx of out-group members from developing hostile outgroup attitudes. Hence we might expect that an increase in out-group members does not make the dominant group more distrustful or less inclusive (Hypothesis 4).…”

“…Others have argued that diversity has no effect on trust or even a positive one on out-group trust in environments where actual inter-group contact does occur and where this interaction meets the conditions specified by contact theory (Stolle et al, 2008;Sturgis et al, 2011;Kokkonen et al, 2011;Dinesen, 2011;Uslaner, 2012). Stolle et al (2013), for instance, find that having actual intergroup contacts is the crucial intermediate variable explaining why some are and others are not affected by a sudden increase of immigrants in their neighbourhood.…”

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

“…This, however, is a measure of frequency of interaction within one's network (not size as in Putnam's analysis). It therefore also remains unclear that British individuals in diverse communities withdraw from "collective (not just neighbourhood) life" (as in the United States) (although see Stolle et al (2013) for an analysis of this question in the German context).…”