Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T09:00:09.645Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Does Immigration Erode Social Capital? The Conditional Effects of Immigration-Generated Diversity on Trust, Membership, and Participation across 19 Countries, 1981–2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2010

Christel Kesler*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Irene Bloemraad*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
*
Christel Kesler, University of Oxford, christel.kesler@nuffield.ox.ac.uk. Nuffield College, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1NFUnited Kingdom.
Irene Bloemraad, University of California, Berkeley, bloemr@berkeley.edu. Department of Sociology, 410 Barrows Hall, MC #1980, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1980, USA.

Abstract

Abstract. This article is an attempt to qualify existing evidence that increasing diversity is detrimental to a vibrant civil society. We focus specifically on immigration-generated diversity, and argue that while it may have negative effects on some specific civic and political outcomes in some contexts, these effects vary widely across advanced democracies. Our argument rests on analysis of a cross-national, cross-sectional time-series dataset that brings together individual-level World Values Survey data with country-level variables. With these data, we track within-country changes over time in trust and engagement. We show that immigration can have a negative effect on social trust, organizational membership and political engagement, but that institutional arrangements shape this relationship in systematic ways. In more economically equal societies and in more multicultural countries (where cultural minorities are recognized and accommodated), the negative effects of immigration on trust and engagement are mitigated or even reversed. We conclude that there is no general link between immigration-generated diversity and collective-mindedness. Rather, the direction and strength of the relationship depend on institutional and policy contexts.

Résumé. Cet article vise à nuancer les preuves existantes que la diversité croissante porte préjudice à une société civile dynamique. Nous nous concentrons particulièrement sur la diversité produite par l'immigration. Nous soutenons que même si elle peut exercer une influence négative sur quelques indices dans certains contextes, ces effets varient considérablement selon le pays examiné parmi les démocraties avancées. Notre argument repose sur l'analyse d'un ensemble de données multinational, transversal et longitudinal qui rassemble des données au niveau individuel du World Values Survey avec des variables au niveau des pays. Au moyen de ces données, nous examinons les changements survenus à l'intérieur des pays, au fil du temps, sur le plan de la confiance et de l'engagement. Nous montrons que l'immigration peut avoir un effet négatif sur la confiance sociale, l'adhésion à des organisations et l'engagement politique, mais que les arrangements institutionnels influencent cette relation de manières systématiques. Dans les sociétés plus économiquement égales et dans les pays plus multiculturels (où les minorités culturelles sont reconnues et accommodées), les effets négatifs de l'immigration sur la confiance et l'engagement sont atténués, voire inversés. Nous concluons qu'il n'y a aucun lien général entre la diversité produite par l'immigration et l'esprit collectif. La direction et la force de la relation entre les deux dépendent plutôt des politiques et des contextes institutionnels.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alesina, Alberto and Glaeser, Edward. 2004. Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto and La Ferrara, Eliana. 2000. “Participation in Heterogeneous Communities.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 115 (3): 847904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto and La Ferrara, Eliana. 2002. “Who Trusts Others?Journal of Public Economics 85 (2): 207–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Glaeser, Edward and Sacerdote, Bruce. 2001. “Why Doesn't the United States Have a European-Style Welfare State?Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2001: 187254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, Marcus. 2007. “Determinants of Social Capital: New Evidence on Religion, Diversity and Structural Change.” British Journal of Political Science 37 (2): 368–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Christopher J. and Paskeviciute, Aida. 2006. “How Ethnic and Linguistic Heterogeneity Influence the Prospects for Civil Society: A Comparative Study of Citizenship Behavior.” The Journal of Politics 68 (4): 783802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arneil, Barbara. 2006. Diverse Communities: The Problem with Social Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banting, Keith, Johnston, Richard, Kymlicka, Will and Soroka, Stuart. 2006. “Do Multiculturalism Policies Erode the Welfare State? An Empirical Analysis.” In Multiculturalism and the Welfare State, ed. Banting, Keith and Kymlicka, Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, Brian. 2001. Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bawer, Bruce. 2006. While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Bloemraad, Irene. 2006. Becoming a Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United States and Canada. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. Richardson, J. G.. New York: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Brubaker, William Rogers. 2001. “The Return of Assimilation? Changing Perspectives on Immigration and Its Sequels in France, Germany, and the United States.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 24 (4): 531–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castiglione, Dario. 2008. “Introduction: Social Capital between Community and Society.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. 2008. “Social Capital's Fortune: An Introduction.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Citrin, Jack, Green, Donald P., Muste, Christopher and Wong, Cara. 1997. “Public Opinion toward Immigration Reform: The Role of Economic Motivations.” The Journal of Politics 59 (3): 858–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, James S. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” American Journal of Sociology 94: S95S120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, James S. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Costa, Dora L. and Kahn, Matthew E.. 2003. “Civic Engagement and Community Heterogeneity: An Economist's Perspective.” Perspectives on Politics 1 (1): 103–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, James E., Baer, Douglas E. and Grabb, Edward G.. 2001. “Nations of Joiners: Explaining Voluntary Association Membership in Democratic Societies.” American Sociological Review 66 (6): 783805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, James E., Grabb, Edward G. and Baer, Douglas E.. 1992. “Voluntary Association Membership in Fifteen Countries: A Comparative Analysis.” American Sociological Review 57 (2): 139–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delhey, Jan and Newton, Kenneth. 2005. “Predicting Cross-National Levels of Social Trust: Global Pattern or Nordic Exceptionalism?European Sociological Review 21 (4): 311–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiPrete, Thomas A. 2002. “Life Course Risks, Mobility Regimes, and Mobility Consequences: A Comparison of Sweden, Germany, and the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 108 (2): 267309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Entzinger, Han. 2003. “The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism: The Case of the Netherlands.” In Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-states, ed. Joppke, C. and Morawska, E.. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
European Values Study Foundation and World Values Survey Association. 2006. European and World Values Surveys Four-Wave Integrated Data File, 1980–2004, v.20060423. Aggregate File Producers: ASEP/JDS (Madrid, Spain) and Tilburg University (Tilburg, Netherlands). Aggregate File Distributors: ASEP/JDS (Madrid, Spain) and ZA (Cologne, Germany).Google Scholar
Gesthuizen, Maurice, van der Meer, Tom and Scheepers, Peer. 2009. “Ethnic Diversity and Social Capital in Europe: Tests of Putnam's Thesis in European Countries.” Scandinavian Political Studies 32 (2): 121–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 1999. Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gitlin, Todd. 1995. The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A. 1999. “Social Capital in Britain.” British Journal of Political Science 29: 473517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 2003. “Social Capital and Racial Inequality in America.” Perspectives on Politics 1: 113–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. and Tolbert, Caroline J.. 1996. “A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S.” American Journal of Political Science 40 (3): 851–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollinger, David A. 2000. Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Marc. 2007. “Social Capital and Diversity: Generalized Trust, Social Cohesion and Regimes of Diversity.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (3): 709–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, Marc, Reeskens, Tim and Stolle, Dietlind. 2007. “Diversity, Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Trust and Ethnocentrism in European Societies.” In Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, ed. Banting, K., Courchene, T. J. and Seidle, F. L.. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Marc, Reeskens, Tim, Stolle, Dietlind and Trappers, Ann. 2009. “Ethnic Diversity and Generalized Trust in Europe: A Cross-National Multilevel Study.” Comparative Political Studies 42 (2): 198223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 2004. Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Ireland, Patrick R. 1994. The Policy Challenge of Ethnic Diversity: Immigrant Politics in France and Switzerland. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joppke, Christian. 2001. “Multicultural Citizenship: A Critique.” Archives européennes de sociologie 42 (2): 431–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kazemipur, Abdolmohammad. 2006. “A Canadian Exceptionalism? Trust and Diversity in Canadian Cities.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 7 (2): 219–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knack, Stephen and Keefer, Philip. 1997. “Does Social Capital Have An Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 (4): 1251–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopmans, Ruud, Statham, Paul, Giugni, Marco and Passy, Florence. 2005. Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 2001. Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, Robert C. 1998. Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, Nan. 2001. Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action. NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luxembourg Income Study. 2007. LIS Key Figures. http://www.lisproject.org/keyfigures. (December 4, 2007).Google Scholar
Paxton, Pamela. 2002. “Social Capital and Democracy: An Interdependent Relationship.” American Sociological Review 67 (2): 254–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paxton, Pamela. 2007. “Association Memberships and Generalized Trust: A Multilevel Model across 31 Countries.” Social Forces 86 (1): 4776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro. 1998. “Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 24: 124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro. 2000. “The Two Meanings of Social Capital.” Sociological Forum 15 (1): 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2007. E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century.” The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies 30 (2): 137–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quadagno, Jill. 1994. The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quillian, Lincoln. 1995. “Prejudice as a Response to Perceived Group Threat: Population Composition and Anti-Immigrant and Racial Prejudice in Europe.” American Sociological Review 60 (4): 586611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossteutscher, Sigrid. 2008. “Social Capital and Civic Engagement: A Comparative Perspective.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Bo and Stolle, Dietlind. 2008. “Political Institutions and Generalized Trust.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Bo and Uslaner, Eric M.. 2005. “All for All: Equality, Corruption, and Social Trust.” World Politics 58 (1): 4172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiter, Stijn and de Graaf, Nan Dirk. 2006. “National Context, Religiosity, and Volunteering: Results from 53 Countries.” American Sociological Review 71 (2): 191210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schofer, Evan and Fourcade-Gourinchas, Marion. 2001. “The Structural Contexts of Civic Engagement: Voluntary Association Membership in Comparative Perspective.” American Sociological Review 66 (6): 806–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soroka, Stuart, Johnston, Richard and Banting, Keith. 2006. “Ethnicity, Trust and the Welfare State.” In Social Capital, Diversity and the Welfare State, ed. Kay, F. and Johnston, R.. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Swank, Duane and Betz, Hans-Georg. 2003. “Globalization, the Welfare State and Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe.” Socio-Economic Review 1: 215–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1994. “The Politics of Recognition.” In Multiculturalism, ed. Gutmann, A.. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pp. 2573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations. 2005. World Migrant Stock: The 2005 Revision. http://esa.un.org/migration/. (October 22, 2006).Google Scholar
Uslaner, Eric M. 1999. “Democracy and Social Capital.” In Democracy and Trust, ed. Warren, M.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Uslaner, Eric M. 2002. The Moral Foundations of Trust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Uslaner, Eric M. 2008. “Trust as a Moral Value.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Uslaner, Eric M. and Brown, Mitchell. 2005. “Inequality, Trust, and Civic Engagement.” American Politics Research 33 (6): 868894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeulen, Floris and Berger, Maria. 2008. “Civic networks and political behavior: Turks in Amsterdam and Berlin.” In Civic Hopes and Political Realities: Immigrants, Community Organizations and Political Engagement, ed. Ramakrishnan, S. Karthick and Bloemraad, Irene. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Warren, Mark. 2008. “The Nature and Logic of Bad Social Capital.” In The Handbook of Social Capital, ed. Castiglione, Dario, van Deth, Jan W. and Wolleb, Guglielmo. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2007. World Development Indicators. http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline (February 7, 2007).Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 2002. “The Changing Character of Social Capital in the United States.” In Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society, ed. Putnam, R.D.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zolberg, Aristide R. 1999. “Matters of State: Theorizing Immigration Policy.” In The Handbook of International Migration, ed. Hirschman, C., Dewind, J. and Kasinitz, P.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Zolberg, Aristide R. 2006. A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zolberg, Aristide R. and Woon, Long Litt. 1999. “Why Islam Is Like Spanish: Cultural Incorporation in Europe and the United States.” Politics and Society 27 (1): 538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar