Know it when you see it? The qualities of the communities people describe as “diverse” (or not)

Abstract

The term “diversity” is increasingly used in interpersonal and institutional discourse, yet the meanings assigned to this term are complicated and sometimes contradictory. “Diversity” may refer to multiple attributes—ethnoracial, economic, etc. It may also refer to multiple dimensions of the same attribute—heterogeneity, i.e., mixture, or the representation of disadvantaged groups, e.g., the share of Blacks. We analyze a new survey of Chicago area residents to explore what people mean by “diversity,” not when they define “diversity” in the abstract, but when they use it to describe real communities. First, we confirm that respondents are most likely to mention ethnoracial and economic differences when explaining the decision to describe their neighborhood as “diverse.” Then, we examine whether the decision to describe a neighborhood as diverse is predicted by that neighborhood’s objective ethnoracial or economic attributes, in terms of both heterogeneity and representation. We find that assessed diversity is predicted by both ethnoracial heterogeneity and the neighborhood share of Non-Whites. In addition, Whites associate diversity with economic equality. Overall, a neighborhood’s ethnoracial attributes better predict assessed diversity than its economic ones. Our findings challenge the notion, implicit in legal precedent and institutional discourse, that “diversity” is an apparent, agreed-upon quality.

Has Pandemic Threat Stoked Xenophobia? How COVID‐19 Influences California Voters’ Attitudes toward Diversity and Immigration*

“…One item asked about attitudes toward diversity. Research (Abascal and Ganter 2020;Bell and Hartmann 2007) has shown that respondents interpret diversity in ethnic and racial terms. By constructing a boundary in which insiders are Euro-Americans and outsiders include everyone else, this item frames non-whites as "diverse" yet unitary in their contrast to an imagined white majority.…”

“…Activating awareness of disease threat with a battery of items about COVID-19 produced significantly more negative views of diversity and less support for policies offering a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants among respondents who received this treatment. Because Americans interpret questions about diversity as referring to ethnoracial difference (Abascal and Ganter 2020), the diversity item evokes categorical boundaries between members of any one ethnoracial category and all others. In the face of pandemic threat, persons in all groups may view persons outside their own category as threats rather than resources.…”