Harvard Professor says ethnic diversity not all great (Representatives, drugs, racism)

[WazzuCoop21]

According to a recent study by a well-respected Harvard professor, the findings appear to show that ethnic diversity has a negative impact upon communities, not only between different races, but between same raced individuals. A quote:

"In the presence of [ethnic] diversity, we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it’s not just that we don’t trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don’t trust people who do look like us. "
—Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam

.... While in Sweden to receive a $50,000 academic prize as political science professor of the year, Harvard’s Robert D. Putnam, a former Carter administration official who made his reputation writing about the decline of social trust in America in his bestseller Bowling Alone, confessed to Financial Times columnist John Lloyd that his latest research discovery—that ethnic diversity decreases trust and co-operation in communities—was so explosive that for the last half decade he hadn’t dared announce it “until he could develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity, saying it ‘would have been irresponsible to publish without that.’”

Professor Putnam found that trust was lowest in Los Angeles, "the most diverse human habitation in human history". While no more than 12 percent of L.A.’s whites said they trusted other races “only a little or not at all,” 37 percent of L.A.’s Latinos distrusted whites. And whites were the most reliable in Hispanic eyes. Forty percent of Latinos doubted Asians, 43 percent distrusted other Hispanics, and 54 percent were anxious about blacks. But his findings also held for rural South Dakota, where "diversity means inviting Swedes to a Norwegians' picnic".

When the data were adjusted for class, income and other factors, they showed that the more people of different races lived in the same community, the greater the loss of trust.


So, what do you feel about the implications of this study and would you agree with its findings?

[ontheroad]

The difficulty with all studies of this kind are the bias of the research itself. Political and social science while measurable is also debatable. Without the close examination of the study, I would be loath to comment on my own confidence level of the outcome.

It can easily be stated that familiarity brings content, not discontent. Living with and among a diverse population offers the advantage of not only exposure but potential understanding.

It is most likely we could site other studies that pose a differing POV.

[majoun]

Walter Benn Michaels, a professor at the University of Chicago who is considered a political progressive, wrote a book last year called "The Trouble With Diversity" in which he made a case for America's preoccupation with diversity and identity politics resulting in the problems of poverty and economic inequality being ignored, with the main beneficiaries being the wealthy of all races. Suffice to say I agree with him.....

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by majoun

Walter Benn Michaels, a professor at the University of Chicago who is considered a political progressive, wrote a book last year called "The Trouble With Diversity"

I love that book!
This isn't really any news to me though. As a white male living in Los Angeles, I don't trust anyone-especially not other races. It's not racism. It seems more to be common sense. It's also a product of my life experiences. I'm trying not to blanket. Latinos and Blacks are great people. I was raised in a Black family(I'm white). But my trust is built more on how educated someone looks(how safe they look) rather than skin color. Generally in places, like LA, the less educated are often minorities. That's key to those who are anti-diversity.

I feel much more comfortable around people like me than not. I'm a single male who would much rather be in a room with single males rather than married housewives. It's so much less tenuous.

I fear diversity, but I feel it's best to make the best of it.

[GrannyII]

Not just poverty, but behaviors. Drugs have been pushed over the border for some 40 years now.
I don't think that is hard to ignore. The repercussions are huge.
I think they must hate us (and by that I mean Americans of all colors) to purposefully bring us down.
We are dying at their hands. Thousands a day.
It is chaos near the border. They may have to send troops and they should send them soon.

[booker_one]

Finally, someone really smart is saying what i have been saying forever!!! i love this guy.

[ndfmnlf]

If diversity is the problem, what's the cure?

[Fred314X]

All of which goes to show that someone will always come up with an opposing viewpoint. Professor Putnam does say that he waited until he could "...develop proposals to compensate for the negative effects of diversity," but what are those proposals? (Assuming, of course, that diversity actually is negative in the first place).

[DC at the Ridge]

The study suffers from a failure to adequately define "diversity". When you study urban settings and you characterize them as "diverse" because there are multiple representatives in a large sampling pool, you cannot stop there in describing diversity. Diversity goes not just to the representation of a percentage of a population, but to the distribution of that representation. If the distribution is not uniform, then you have to question whether you've really described a "diverse" situation.

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by booker_one

Finally, someone really smart is saying what i have been saying forever!!! i love this guy.

Am I to interpret that as meaning that people really unsmart have been saying this forever?