Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion: Immigration, Ethnic Fractionalization and Potentials for Civic Action

196 Pages·2014·1.919 MB·English

by  Merlin Schaeffer

Ethnic DivErsity anD social cohEsion
research in Migration and Ethnic
relations series
Series Editor:
Maykel verkuyten, ErcoMEr
Utrecht University
the research in Migration and Ethnic relations series has been at the forefront of
research in the field for ten years. The series has built an international reputation
for cutting edge theoretical work, for comparative research especially on Europe
and for nationally-based studies with broader relevance to international issues.
Published in association with the European Research Centre on Migration and
Ethnic relations (ErcoMEr), Utrecht University, it draws contributions from
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on some of the key issues of the contemporary world.
Also in series
Irregular Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe
Who cares?
Edited by anna triandafyllidou
isBn 978 1 4094 4202 8
Migrants and cities
The Accommodation of Migrant Organizations in Europe
Margit Fauser
isBn 978 1 4094 2186 3
Full series list at back of book
Ethnic Diversity and
social cohesion
immigration, Ethnic Fractionalization and
Potentials for civic action
MErlin schaEFFEr
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Germany
© Merlin schaeffer 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Merlin Schaeffer has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Schaeffer, Merlin.
Ethnic diversity and social cohesion : immigration, ethnic fractionalization and potentials
for civic action / by Merlin Schaeffer.
pages cm. -- (Research in migration and ethnic relations series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-1-4094-6938-4 (hardback) -- isBn 978-1-4094-6940-7 (ebook) -- isBn 978-
1-4094-6939-1 (epub) 1. Cultural pluralism. 2. Multiculturalism. 3. Ethnic relations. 4.
Social conflict. I. Title.
HM1271.S3783 2014
305.8--dc23
2013021714
isBn 9781409469384 (hbk)
isBn 9781409469391 (ebk – PDF)
isBn 9781409469407 (ebk – ePUB)
IV
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
2 The Fragility of Social Cohesion in Ethnically Diverse Societies
Empirical Evidence or Spurious Correlation? 7
3 Elements of a Theory on Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion
Nothing but Group Threat? 33
4 Measuring Ethnic Diversity
Competing Statistical Indices, Similar Results? 49
5 Beyond Measured Facts
Perceptions of Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion 73
6 Perceptions are not Arbitrarily Subjective
Blaming Ethnic Minorities for Neighbourhood Problems 95
7 The Dilemma of Inter-ethnic Coexistence
Sources of Cohesion in Ethnically Diverse Neighbourhoods 113
8 Conclusion 137
Appendix: Research Design 149
Bibliography 159
Index 177
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List of Figures
2.1 Development of the literature on ethnic diversity, public
goods production and social cohesion 13
2.2 Analysis of evidence in support of and against ethnic
diversity effects 24
3.1 Theoretical approach 47
4.1 Types of ethnic composition 54
4.2 Simulated relations between competing diversity indices 67
5.1 Accuracy of respondents’ average estimates of the percentage
of persons of immigrant origin 76
5.2 Expanded theoretical approach including cognitive mechanisms 78
6.1 Ethnic threat by ethnic category usage 102
6.2 The population under investigation 103
6.3 Categories commonly used to describe neighbourhood
problem groups 105
6.4 The diminishing marginal effect of out-group size on the
use of ethnic categories 108
6.5 Average marginal effect of economic decline conditioned
by out-group size and the initial level of unemployment 109
7.1 Perceived diversity effect conditioned by the number of
inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances 116
7.2 Statistically measured ethnic diversity effect conditioned
by ethnic residential segregation 118
7.3 Statistically measured ethnic diversity effect conditioned
by ethnic residential segregation: additional results 120
7.4 Inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances (by origin):
persons of immigrant origin only 126
7.5 The brokering role of children conditioned by the frequency of
inter-ethnic encounters: natives only 130
7.6 The brokering role of inter-ethnic partners conditioned by the
frequency of inter-ethnic encounters: natives only 131
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List of Tables
2.1 Analysis of evidence in support of and against ethnic
diversity effects 20
2.2 The disciplinary divide 27
4.1 Theoretical explanations and associated diversity indices 62
4.2 Trust in neighbours and competing diversity indices 63
4.3 Collective efficacy and competing diversity indices 64
5.1 Behavioural social cohesion and statistical ethnic diversity 80
5.2 Cognitive social cohesion and statistical ethnic diversity 81
5.3 Social cohesion and perceived and statistically measured diversity 84
5.4 Social cohesion indicators on perceived and statistically measured
diversity: natives only 86
5.5 Social cohesion indicators on perceived and statistically measured
diversity: persons of immigrant origin only 87
5.6 Social cohesion on statistical and perceived diversity:
additional results 88
5.7 Multi-level mediation analysis 90
6.1 (Non-)Response and neighbourhood satisfaction 104
6.2 Tetrachoric correlations between the categories used 107
7.1 Inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances between persons of
immigrant origin and natives 125
7.2 Inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances between persons of
immigrant origin and natives: additional results for natives 132
7.3 Inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances between persons of
immigrant origin and natives: persons of immigrant origin only 134
A.1 Sampling plan of the EDCA-Survey 150
A.2 Descriptive statistics of dependent outcome variables 155
A.3 Descriptive statistics of independent predictor variables 156
A.4 Descriptive statistics of diversity indices 156