The downside of diversity

[GaryC 7]

By Michael Jonas | August 5, 2007

IT HAS BECOME increasingly popular to speak of racial and ethnic diversity as a civic strength. From multicultural festivals to pronouncements from political leaders, the message is the same: our differences make us stronger.

But a massive new study, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, has concluded just the opposite. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam -- famous for "Bowling Alone," his 2000 book on declining civic engagement -- has found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.

"The extent of the effect is shocking," says Scott Page, a University of Michigan political scientist.

The study comes at a time when the future of the American melting pot is the focus of intense political debate, from immigration to race-based admissions to schools, and it poses challenges to advocates on all sides of the issues. The study is already being cited by some conservatives as proof of the harm large-scale immigration causes to the nation's social fabric. But with demographic trends already pushing the nation inexorably toward greater diversity, the real question may yet lie ahead: how to handle the unsettling social changes that Putnam's research predicts.

"We can't ignore the findings," says Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "The big question we have to ask ourselves is, what do we do about it; what are the next steps?"

The study is part of a fascinating new portrait of diversity emerging from recent scholarship. Diversity, it shows, makes us uncomfortable -- but discomfort, it turns out, isn't always a bad thing. Unease with differences helps explain why teams of engineers from different cultures may be ideally suited to solve a vexing problem. Culture clashes can produce a dynamic give-and-take, generating a solution that may have eluded a group of people with more similar backgrounds and approaches. At the same time, though, Putnam's work adds to a growing body of research indicating that more diverse populations seem to extend themselves less on behalf of collective needs and goals.

His findings on the downsides of diversity have also posed a challenge for Putnam, a liberal academic whose own values put him squarely in the pro-diversity camp. Suddenly finding himself the bearer of bad news, Putnam has struggled with how to present his work. He gathered the initial raw data in 2000 and issued a press release the following year outlining the results. He then spent several years testing other possible explanations.

The story continues here.

[Heracles 417]

"We can't ignore the findings," says Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. "The big question we have to ask ourselves is, what do we do about it; what are the next steps?"

###### yes we can. Just ask: SteveLaura, jenn3539, Caladan, thetreble, Number 6, Mister Fancypant to name a few

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

And what 'findings' would you be referring to (as opposed to the 'findings' that the OP article is referring to).

[GaryC 7]

It's common sense really. People tend to feel most comfortable with people like themselves. That is why most cities have China Towns, Little Italy's ect...

[Heracles 417]

It's common sense really. People tend to feel most comfortable with people like themselves. That is why most cities have China Towns, Little Italy's ect...

Apparently that is due to poverty and density..

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It's common sense really. People tend to feel most comfortable with people like themselves. That is why most cities have China Towns, Little Italy's ect...

Apparently that is due to poverty and density..

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

IMHO - the real reason diverse communities in America are the way they are isn't because there is something inherently wrong with diversity, it's because different racial and economic groups in this country do not trust each other. The whites and the blacks, the rich and the poor, the yankees and the rednecks, the flyover country dwellers and the new yorkers, the foreigners and the americans.... there is distrust all around so when you put one or more of these groups together (i.e. diversity), that's what you get.

The solution isn't to discourage diversity... the solution is to change our culture from the inside, break down those barriers. Easier said that done.

[Heracles 417]

The solution isn't to discourage diversity... the solution is to change our culture from the inside, break down those barriers. Easier said that done.

It's a two way exercise though..

[Sheriff Uling 3]

At times, it seems as though these "so called" scientists are on crack!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

IMHO - the real reason diverse communities in America are the way they are isn't because there is something inherently wrong with diversity, it's because different racial and economic groups in this country do not trust each other. The whites and the blacks, the rich and the poor, the yankees and the rednecks, the flyover country dwellers and the new yorkers, the foreigners and the americans.... there is distrust all around so when you put one or more of these groups together (i.e. diversity), that's what you get.

The solution isn't to discourage diversity... the solution is to change our culture from the inside, break down those barriers. Easier said that done.

Well said. Xenophobia is a real phobia that effects all nationalities and it has been amplified since 9/11.

[Heracles 417]

"It would be unfortunate if a politically correct progressivism were to deny the reality of the challenge to social solidarity posed by diversity," he writes in the new report.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Well said. Xenophobia is a real phobia that effects all nationalities and it has been amplified since 9/11.

Sorry, 9/11 has very very little to do with it. This country has a long and proud (not) tradition of distrust and animosity between different groups and it started way before 9/11. 9/11 is just a blip, a footnote, in a very lengthy story.

And it ain't xenophobia, either. It exists within Americans. That's the biggest challenge.

[Heracles 417]

Well said. Xenophobia is a real phobia that effects all nationalities and it has been amplified since 9/11.

Sorry, 9/11 has very very little to do with it. This country has a long and proud (not) tradition of distrust and animosity between different groups and it started way before 9/11. 9/11 is just a blip, a footnote, in a very lengthy story.

And it ain't xenophobia, either. It exists within Americans. That's the biggest challenge.

And what it does not exist in other nations.

India, for example, still has the caste system. Where someone living in X part of town is seen as inferior to someone living in B part of town and interacting with one another is a taboo.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Well said. Xenophobia is a real phobia that effects all nationalities and it has been amplified since 9/11.

Sorry, 9/11 has very very little to do with it. This country has a long and proud (not) tradition of distrust and animosity between different groups and it started way before 9/11. 9/11 is just a blip, a footnote, in a very lengthy story.

And it ain't xenophobia, either. It exists within Americans. That's the biggest challenge.

I said that 9/11 amplified those fears. And distrust, IMO, is a consequence of fear. We fear what we don't know - that's a basic human condition...even animals show this behavior. Familiarity must be something that we carry over from our survival instincts. The only way to diffuse it is to familiarize people with each other.

If you are saying that people remain distrusting towards people who are different from them, even after getting to know them...then I don't have an answer for that.

[JamalNTam 1]

IMHO - the real reason diverse communities in America are the way they are isn't because there is something inherently wrong with diversity, it's because different racial and economic groups in this country do not trust each other. The whites and the blacks, the rich and the poor, the yankees and the rednecks, the flyover country dwellers and the new yorkers, the foreigners and the americans.... there is distrust all around so when you put one or more of these groups together (i.e. diversity), that's what you get.

The solution isn't to discourage diversity... the solution is to change our culture from the inside, break down those barriers. Easier said that done.

I think that this is really well said!!

I dont know, I've always felt comfortable around all types of groups. I have many close white, black, asian, indian, hispanic friends from all over the world, from all classes - rich to poor. Put me in a neighbourhood where I'm the only white person, and I'll feel just as comfortable as being in a neighbourhood full of white people. I have never been hated on for being who I am - I have NEVER been called out for being 'white in a black neighbourhood', of course I've had the odd look from some females, but thats coz its what females do - no matter what race! lol! People have different experiences I guess. But I beleive it's to do with attitude as well. I wasnt raised in a multi-ethnic community - but my parents raised me not to look down on or up at anyone - that skin tone, class, sexuality, whatever does not have a negative impact on anyone.