Sluiter Roderick, Tolsma Jochem, Scheepers Peer
Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Sociology, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Soc Sci Res. 2015 Nov;54:80-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.06.015. Epub 2015 Jun 30.
The claim that ethnic diversity within the living environment would hamper bonding and bridging social capital has been studied extensively, producing highly inconsistent findings. We studied whether ethnic diversity effects depend on the geographic scale at which ethnic diversity is measured. We examined ethnic diversity effects on intra- and inter-ethnic contacts in the neighborhood, respectively on opposition to ethnic in- and out-group neighbors. Hypotheses were derived from Blau's meeting opportunities thesis and contact theory, ethnic competition theory, and constrict theory. Using information about 2545 Dutch respondents with their locality defined as egohoods and administrative units, we found that ethnic diversity effects vary with the geographic scale. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is positively associated with bridging social capital. At larger scales, the findings are mixed: ethnic diversity is positively related to inter-ethnic contacts and opposition to out-group neighbors. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is negatively related to bonding social capital. In contrast to often-made claims that diversity within the local context would matter most, estimates of diversity effects are not always stronger when diversity measures are aggregated to smaller geographic areas.
生活环境中的种族多样性会阻碍社会资本的联系与桥梁作用这一说法已得到广泛研究，但结果高度不一致。我们研究了种族多样性的影响是否取决于衡量种族多样性的地理尺度。我们分别考察了种族多样性对邻里内族内和族际接触的影响，以及对族内和族外邻居的反对态度的影响。假设源自布劳的相遇机会理论、接触理论、种族竞争理论和收缩理论。利用2545名荷兰受访者的信息，他们的所在地被定义为自我社区和行政单位，我们发现种族多样性的影响随地理尺度而变化。较小地区的种族多样性与桥梁社会资本呈正相关。在较大尺度上，结果不一：种族多样性与族际接触以及对外族邻居的反对呈正相关。较小地区的种族多样性与联系社会资本呈负相关。与通常认为的当地环境中的多样性最为重要的说法相反，当多样性指标汇总到较小地理区域时，多样性影响的估计并不总是更强。
