Spaces of encounter and attitudes towards difference: A comparative study of two European cities

Scholars have been increasingly interested in how everyday interactions in various places with people from different ethnic/religious background impact inter-group relations. Drawing on representative surveys in Leeds and Warsaw (2012), we examine whether encounters with ethnic and religious minorities in different type of space are associated with more tolerance towards them. We find that in Leeds, more favourable affective attitudes are associated with contact in institutional spaces (workplace and study places) and socialisation spaces (social clubs, voluntary groups, religious meeting places); however, in case of behavioural intentions – operationalised as willingness to be friendly to minority neighbours – only encounters in socialisation spaces play a significant role in prejudice reduction. In Warsaw, people who have contacts with ethnic and religious minorities in public (streets, park, public services and transport) and consumption spaces (cafés, pubs, restaurants) express more positive affective attitudes towards them, but only encounters in consumption space translate into willingness to be friendly to minority neighbours.     

Relational diversity and neighbourhood cohesion. Unpacking variety,balance and in-group size

Ethnic diversity is typically measured by the well-known Hirschman-Herfindahl Index. This paper discusses the merits of an alternative approach, which is in our view better suited to tease out why and how ethnic diversity matters. The approach consists of two elements. First, all existing diversity indices are non-relational. From the viewpoint of theoretical accounts that attribute negative diversity effects to in-group favoritism and out-group threat, it should however matter whether, given a certain level of overall diversity, an individual belongs to a minority group or to the dominant majority. We therefore decompose diversity by distinguishing the in-group share from the diversity of ethnic out-groups. Second, we show how generalized entropy measures can be used to test which of diversity’s two basic dimensions matters most: the variety of groups, or the unequal distribution (balance) of the population over groups. These measures allow us to test different theoretical explanations against each other, because they imply different expectations regarding the effects of in-group size, out-group variety, and out-group balance. We apply these ideas in an analysis of various social cohesion measures across 55 German localities and show that both in-group size and out-group diversity matter. For the native majority as well as for persons of immigration background, the variety component of diversity seems to be more decisive than has formerly been acknowledged. These findings provide little support for group threat and in-group favoritism as the decisive mechanisms behind negative diversity effects, and are most in line with the predictions of theories that emphasize coordination problems, asymmetric preferences, and network closure.     

Boundary crossing in first marriage and remarriage

Owing to secular increases in divorce rates, remarriage has become a prevalent feature of American family life; yet, research about mate selection behavior in higher order marriages remains limited. Using log-linear methods to recent data from the 2008–2014 American Community Survey, we compare racial and ethnic sorting behavior in first and subsequent marriages. The two most frequently crossed boundaries – those involving White-Asian and White-Hispanic couples – are more permeable in remarriages than in first marriages. Boundaries that are crossed with less frequency – those between minority groups and the White-Black boundary-are less permeable in remarriages than in first marriages. Collectively, these findings suggest that racial and ethnic sorting processes in remarriage may reify existing social distances between pan-ethnic groups. Racial and ethnic variations in how the relative permeability of boundary changes between first and higher-order marriages underscore the importance of considering a broad array of interracial pairings when assessing the ways in which changes in family structure and marital sorting behavior promote integration.     

Me and Jasmina down by the schoolyard: An analysis of the impact of ethnic diversity in school on the trust of schoolchildren

Earlier research has indicated a negative relationship between ethnic diversity and trust. Whereas previous analyses have been carried out at the country, city or neighbourhood level, this paper adds to the literature by analyzing the impact of ethnic diversity on generalized trust in others and out-group trust in the primary school context. The question of the impact of ethnic diversity in school on the trust of schoolchildren is addressed by drawing on a unique survey of children with immigrant and native Danish backgrounds, respectively, in the last three grades of primary school in Denmark. The survey design holds several qualities strengthening the potential for drawing inference about the impact of ethnic diversity in school on trust. The results of the analysis do not confirm the negative relationship between ethnic diversity and trust found in earlier research. In the primary school setting, ethnic diversity does not affect generalized trust and even has a positive impact on out-group trust of native Danish pupils (i.e., their trust in immigrants).     

Explaining relationships between ethnic diversity and informal social capital across European countries and regions: Tests of constrict, conflict and contact theory

In this study we focus on the relationship between ethnic diversity and informal social capital. As this refers to rather strong social ties in the intimate domain, it is a strict test of Putnam’s claim that ethnic diversity would decrease social capital. In order to explain these relationships, we derived mediating mechanisms from conflict and contact theory. Using data from the European Social Survey (2002/2003), we applied multilevel analyses considering three levels: individuals, regions and countries. Our results revealed a direct positive effect of ethnic diversity at the country level on informal helping, yet no indirect effect via the mediating variables. At the regional level, we only found an indirect effect of ethnic diversity. Here, ethnic diversity increases the likelihood of intergroup contact that in turn is positively related to both informal social meeting and helping. Perceived ethnic threat turned out to have a negative effect on informal social meeting.     

School ethnic diversity and White students’ civic attitudes in England

The current paper focuses on White British students in lower secondary education and investigates the effect of school ethnic diversity on their levels of trust and inclusive attitudes towards immigrants. Use is made of panel data of the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) to explore these relationships. Ethnic diversity is measured with the proportion of students in a grade identifying with a minority. In agreement with contact theory, the paper initially finds a positive relation between diversity and inclusive attitudes on immigrants. However, this link disappears once controls for social background, gender and prior levels of the outcome are included in the model. This indicates that students with particular pre-enrolment characteristics have self-selected in diverse schools and that inclusive attitudes have stabilized before secondary education. Diversity further appears to have a negative impact on trust, irrespective of the number of controls added to the model.     

Coalitional affiliation as a missing link between ethnic polarization and well-being: An empirical test from the European Social Survey

Many studies converge in suggesting (a) that ethnic and racial minorities fare worse than host populations in reported well-being and objective measures of health and (b) that ethnic/racial diversity has a negative impact on various measures of social trust and well-being, including in the host or majority population. However, there is much uncertainty about the processes that connect diversity variables with personal outcomes. In this paper, we are particularly interested in different levels of coalitional affiliation, which refers to people’s social allegiances that guide their expectations of social support, in-group strength and cohesion. We operationalize coalitional affiliation as the extent to which people rely on a homogeneous social network, and we measure it with indicators of friendships across ethnic boundaries and frequency of contact with friends. Using multi-level models and data from the European Social Survey (Round 1, 2002–2003) for 19 countries, we demonstrate that coalitional affiliation provides an empirically reliable, as well as theoretically coherent, explanation for various effects of ethnic/racial diversity.     

Explaining ethnic polarization over attitudes towards minority rights in Eastern Europe: A multilevel analysis

This paper examines divisions between majority and minority ethnic groups over attitudes towards minority rights in 13 East European societies. Using national sample surveys and multilevel models, we test the effectiveness of competing explanations of ethnic polarization in attitudes towards minority rights, as well as regional and cross-national differences in levels of polarization. We find that, at the individual level, indicators of ‘social distance’ (inter-marriage and social interaction) account most effectively for the extent of ethnic polarization. However, regional and cross-national variations in polarization between majority and minority groups are explained most effectively by cultural (linguistic and religious) differences. These findings accord with research in the West, indicating the importance of cultural differences as a source of ethnic polarization, while offering little support for theories focusing on economic and structural factors or the size of minority groups. They also suggest the likely sources of difficulties for democratic consolidation in ethnically divided post-communist societies.     

Ethnic concentration in the neighbourhood and majority and minority language: A study of first and second-generation immigrants

Ethnic residential concentration is often found to hamper immigrants’ majority language proficiency. However, there are still several gaps in our understanding of the relationship between ethnic concentration and ethnic minorities’ language practices. This study examines the extent to which ethnic concentration also constrains immigrants’ majority language use, whether contact with natives and co-ethnics mediates these relationships, and whether ethnic concentration relates to second-generation minorities’ minority language proficiency. Structural equation models on data for people of Turkish and Moroccan origin living in the Netherlands (N = 2163) showed that ethnic concentration is indirectly related to weaker majority language proficiency and less majority language use through contact with natives and co-ethnics. For second-generation minorities, ethnic concentration is related to better minority language proficiency.     

Income as a resilience factor for the impact of discrimination and institutional unfairness on minorities’ emotional well-being

This study investigated the impact of personal vs. institutional discrimination on the emotional well-being (EWB) of immigrant and ethnic minorities, and a possible protective mechanism of economic achievements that may buffer the negative effects of discrimination. Data were collected from the Israeli 2015 Social Survey. Immigrant minorities were those who came to Israel after 1980. Israeli Palestinians were regarded as an ethnic minority. The study showed that perceived unfairness and discrimination in public institutions, which were not necessarily directed towards individuals or their minority group, threatens EWB of minorities to an extent similar to that of personally experienced discrimination. Income moderated the effects of common and personal discrimination on EWB of immigrant and ethnic minorities, but not in the same way across the various groups. The study provides evidence that income may be a resilience factor, which buffers and compensates for the negative effect of discrimination on minorities’ EWB.     

Liking and disliking minority-group classmates: Explaining the mixed findings for the influence of ethnic classroom composition on interethnic attitudes

Research on the influence of the number of ethnic minority group classmates on majority group students’ interethnic attitudes produced conflicting results. With data from 728 early adolescents, we found that the effect of the ethnic class composition depends on two opposing student-level mechanisms. First, majority group students who liked a larger number of minority group classmates developed more positive attitudes toward minority groups. Second, students who disliked a larger number of outgroup classmates developed more negative outgroup attitudes. In our sample, these two effects neutralized each other because the sample consisted of about the same number of students that liked most of their outgroup classmates and students that disliked most outgroup classmates. Results were consistent in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. These results support a new interpretation of the mixed findings in past research, suggesting that past studies may have differed in the number of students who liked and disliked outgroup classmates.     

Explaining ethnic outgroup feelings from a multigroup perspective: Similarity or contact opportunity?

This study investigates ethnic outgroup feelings from a multigroup perspective. We test predictions from the similarity principle and intergroup contact theory, claiming that people are more positive towards similar others and that outgroup exposure leads to outgroup attraction. Multilevel analyses on dyadic ingroup-outgroup pairs gathered from a Dutch survey on four ethnic minority groups show that similarity (especially in group characteristics) positively affects favorable outgroup feelings. Outgroup exposure has a non-linear, reversed U-shape effect: a growing share of an ethnic outgroup in the neighborhood of residence initially increases favorable outgroup feelings, yet when the ethnic outgroup is large, further growth decreases favorable feelings. We also find a similarity by contact interaction, such that when group similarity is high, outgroup exposure generates more favorable feelings. The latter finding integrates two rather separate research fields and supports the equal status condition from intergroup contact theory.     

Racial diversity, minority concentration, and trust in Canadian urban neighborhoods

Using a sample of 42,329 respondents nested within 4254 Canadian urban neighborhoods, this study demonstrates the conceptual and empirical importance of making a distinction between neighborhood racial diversity and minority concentration, and examines how each is uniquely associated with trust. Our analysis shows that at a given level of racial minority concentration, Whites are more trusting when their minority neighbors are more evenly distributed across racial minority groups. Meanwhile, Whites are less trusting as the neighborhood share of racial minorities increases. Overall, the effect of racial minority concentration tends to prevail over that of racial diversity.     

Overlapping disadvantages and the racial/ethnic graduation gap among students attending selective institutions

Using a configurational approach, I examine the extent to which the intersection between background attributes can account for racial and ethnic gaps in graduation likelihood among students attending elite institutions in the United States. The results, which are based on the College & Beyond database, demonstrate the compounding effect of multiple disadvantages on students’ graduation likelihood, above and beyond the unique hardship associated with each background characteristic. Under-represented minority students are more likely to suffer from overlapping disadvantages than whites and Asians, but given similar constellations of disadvantages most minority students perform as well as whites. However, black students with overlapping disadvantages are slightly less likely to graduate than their white configuration-counterparts. About third of the overall race gap is attributed to the compounding effect of overlapping disadvantages on blacks’ achievement. That black male students with overlapping disadvantages are the most vulnerable group of all reveals an intersection between gender, race and class.     

Neighbourhood effects on educational attainment of adolescents,buffered by personality and educational commitment

Research has repeatedly shown that neighbourhood disadvantage negatively influences individual educational outcomes. However, the great variation in outcomes indicates substantial unobserved heterogeneity. Looking at the rates of obtaining a basic educational qualification, the hypothesis is that individual traits of adolescents can buffer neighbourhood effects. First, adolescents with a more resilient personality may be better able to cope with neighbourhood adversity. And second, educational commitments might buffer adolescents from negative neighbourhood influences. These hypotheses are tested employing survival analysis, using six wave panel data, containing information on ten years of adolescents’ lives. The results show that resilients experience no negative influence of neighbourhood disadvantage, while both undercontrollers and overcontrollers do. And, the stronger adolescents’ educational commitments, the less they experience the negative effect of neighbourhood adversity. In sum, neighbourhood effects are found, but not for everybody.     

Does social diversity impede sound economic management? An empirical analysis, 1980–2012

Several celebrated scholars argue that diverse preferences and coordination failure due to ethnic and cultural diversity hamper the social cohesion necessary for good economic management, leading to development failure. Using several measures of diversity, we find that higher levels of ethno-linguistic and cultural fractionalization are conditioned positively on higher economic growth by an index of economic freedom, which is often heralded as a good measure of sound economic management. High diversity in turn is associated with higher levels of economic freedom. We do not find any evidence to suggest that high diversity hampers change towards greater economic freedom and institutions supporting liberal policies. The effect of diversity, moreover, is conditioned positively by higher democracy. Our results raise serious doubt about the centrality of social diversity for explaining economic failure, nor is there evidence to suggest that autocratic measures are required under conditions of social diversity to implement growth-promoting policies. This is good news because history and culture seem to matter less than rational agency for ensuring sound economic management.     

民族福利建设中的制度风险及其规避——以鄂伦春族为例

民族社会福利建设中存在着由于民族福利制度自身功能发生偏差而产生的制度风险。它以民族福利制度与民族经济社会制度及福利文化传统之间的制度冲突为发生基础。制度冲突尽管以有限理性与制度变革为生成根源,但其风险化的关键在于是否在民族福利建设过程中维护了合理的民族权益。因此,风险的规避在于根据确保民族合理权益的原则进行制度协调,改进民族福利制度。当前,尤其要据此原则将民族福利制度纳入社会保障体系进行市场化、平等化改进,以化解其现实风险。     

希罗多德的alter egos:《历史》叙事中的“第二自我”与《历史》叙述

希罗多德《历史》叙事中的“第二自我”(alter egos)从不同层面揭示出这位“历史之父”的多重身份,并不同程度地推进了《历史》的叙事与叙述主题的多角度展现.希罗多德通过建构文本中的“第二自我”试图树立自身的权威,并向雅典的受叙者(narratee)传递影响超越文本局限的“永恒真理”.伴随着叙事情节发展与希罗多德史学思想传递的需要,《历史》叙事中的“第二自我”产生转变,并表现出二元特征,叙事中的“第二自我”和受叙者与希罗多德和雅典听众间存在着多重的互应关系.     

Managing racial diversity: The context of state legal and political cultures

We draw on institutional theory to examine the connection between state-level regulation of equal employment and political cultures and race/ethnic minority presence in managerial positions in private U.S. workplaces. Analyses examining managerial diversity at upper- and lower-levels show that expanded state EEO posting requirements are associated with a greater presence of nonwhite managers at both levels, while weak state EEO compliance penalties are related to fewer nonwhite lower-level managers. State-level EEO recordkeeping requirements that exceed federal law are unassociated with nonwhite managerial presence at either lower- or upper-levels. Early adoption of fair employment practices agencies (FEPA) is positively associated with only lower-level managerial diversity, whereas progressive state government ideology is negatively related to top managerial diversity. Our findings highlight the complexity of state government regulation, oversight, and culture in shaping managerial racial/ethnic diversity. We discuss the implications of our results for future research and policy aimed at diversifying private workplaces.     

Life satisfaction,ethnicity and neighbourhoods: Is there an effect of neighbourhood ethnic composition on life satisfaction?

Immigrants and ethnic minorities tend to have lower life satisfaction than majority populations. However, current understanding of the drivers of these gaps is limited. Using a rich, nationally representative data set with a large sample of ethnic minorities and matched neighbourhood characteristics, we test whether first and second generation minorities experience lower life satisfaction once accounting for compositional differences and whether, specifically, neighbourhood deprivation impacts their wellbeing. We further investigate whether a larger proportion of own ethnic group in the neighbourhood improves satisfaction. We find life satisfaction is lower among ethnic minorities, and especially for the second generation, even controlling for individual and area characteristics. Neighbourhood concentration of own ethnic group is, however, associated with higher life satisfaction for Black Africans and UK born Indians and Pakistanis. The effect for Black Africans may stem from selection into areas, but findings for Indians and Pakistanis are robust to sensitivity tests.