2011-08-21

Why is there more racial violence during negative social mood?

Diversity and trust
Another major player has now come into the game, even if his main focus is not the welfare system: Robert Putnam, Harvard professor, best known for his work on social capital. He has recently published a study based upon a wide-ranging and detailed survey of ethnic diversity carried out in the US. Social capital can be understood as the informal networks of relatives, friends and associates that people depend upon for support in their everyday lives. Putnam found a direct relationship between the homogeneity of neighbourhoods, the level of trust and the existence of social capital. In neighbourhoods where most people are alike—such as predominantly white suburbs—people tend to trust one another more, and also be more involved in community activities, voluntary associations and so forth. In diverse areas, such as inner cities, trust and social capital diminish.

Most people wouldn’t be particularly surprised by such findings. Like, one could say, attracts like; people feel most comfortable with others who are similar to themselves. However, Putnam discovered something else quite unexpected. In the more diverse communities, there was not simply a retreat into the in-group. In such communities, people have lower levels of trust in those who are different from them, but also in those who are the same. In other words, diversity seems to lower trust and social capital in general. People in more heterogeneous areas have markedly lower levels of voting, do not trust their local authorities, are less involved in community groups and are less content with their lives than those in the more uniform ones.

Other factors might explain this finding. Diverse neighbourhoods might be poorer than more homogeneous ones. They might have higher rates of crime, delinquency or anti-social behaviour. Yet Putnam is able to show that such is not the case. Trust and social capital are diminished in diverse areas regardless of their overall level of affluence or incidence of crime, delinquency and other influences that could affect the results. Putnam concludes that it is diversity as such that reduces connections with, and confidence in, others.

This conclusion is itself distinctly uncomfortable for liberals. Perhaps multiculturalism just will not work? Putnam rejects such pessimism. The negative effects of diversity can be overcome by a mixture of positive social change and enlightened public policy. He provides a number of encouraging examples. For instance, a generation ago the US army was divided along racial lines, but today it has become a “colour-blind institution.” American soldiers today on average have many more inter-racial friendships than Americans as a whole.

The aim of social policy up to now has nearly always been to reduce the segregation between ethnic groups, concentrating mainly upon minorities. Putnam’s research, however, strongly implies that getting all groups to identify with the community is most important. Building up community identity means trying to foster an overall sense of pride and involvement with an institution or neighbourhood. Pride in the military and identification with its goals was almost certainly a prime factor underlying the observed changes in the army.
Diversity weakens social trust and when the social mood declines, the weakest points of social trust will be where the violence flares. In the last part of this snip, the professor argues that people can be unified, but the example he gives is the military, which is a rigid and essentially totalitarian institution as far as its members are concerned. Putting aside whether it's possible for liberty and this level of enforced unity to co-exist, there's no way this will occur during a declining social mood.

Two men fighting for lives after bloody 49ers-Raiders game violence

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