Racial Diversity and Social Capital : Equality and Community in America

Race and racial diversity are important aspects of America and have been shown to substantially affect social relations and the political system, often in ways inconsistent with the values of equality. However, greater civic association and a general sense of community, embodied in the concept of social capital, are said to have tremendous beneficial effects and profoundly influence American society. This study juxtaposes and critically assesses two bodies of research, including the work made famous in Robert Putnam''s Bowling Alone, that have reached different conclusions on these issues. Is America's legacy of racial inequality an 'evil twin' of the benefits of social capital? By analyzing the social outcomes for racial minorities, in addition to other dimensions of American politics, the author shows that the impact of racial diversity consistently outweighs that of social capital. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Tables and Figures......Page 10 Preface......Page 13 Acknowledgments......Page 19 1 Introduction......Page 21 The social and theoretical landscape......Page 24 A broader context: a multiple traditions approach......Page 27 Overview......Page 34 2 The Social Capital Thesis......Page 40 Impacts of social capital......Page 44 Other social capital empirical studies......Page 47 Social capital, political/civic culture, and race......Page 56 Social capital and its decline......Page 63 Summary and conclusion......Page 66 3 The Racial Diversity Thesis......Page 68 The racial diversity interpretation and politics in the states......Page 72 Racial diversity: research and findings......Page 74 Race and Welfare Policy......Page 79 Diversity and the Adoption of Direct Democracy......Page 82 Summary......Page 86 Racial diversity's conceptual challenge to social capital......Page 89 4 Examining Social Outcomes, and Civic and Economic Equality......Page 92 Examining substantive outcomes......Page 93 Minority School Graduation Ratios......Page 95 Minority School Suspension Ratios......Page 96 Minority (Black) Incarceration Ratios......Page 97 Minority Infant Mortality Ratios......Page 98 A Note on Minority Rates......Page 99 Civic and economic equality......Page 102 Civic Equality......Page 107 Economic Equality......Page 109 Civic Equality: Rates......Page 111 Economic Equality: Rates......Page 115 Conclusion......Page 117 5 Voter Turnout and Other Forms of Participation in Context......Page 119 Direct Racial Effects Thesis......Page 120 Interactive Effects Thesis......Page 121 Analytical approach......Page 122 Assessing Direct Racial Effects......Page 125 Assessing Direct Social Capital Effects......Page 129 Assessing Indirect Effects......Page 131 Assessing Interactive Effects......Page 134 Conclusions on state voter turnout......Page 139 Individual-level participation and context......Page 140 Other Forms of Political Participation......Page 145 Conclusion......Page 148 6 Public Policy Outputs......Page 151 Civil rights......Page 158 Tax policy......Page 161 Welfare......Page 163 Conclusions......Page 168 7 Conclusions......Page 171 Review of the major findings......Page 175 The relative status of social capital and racial diversity arguments......Page 185 Research agendas......Page 188 Theoretical inclinations......Page 192 An optimistic note on diversity and social capital......Page 193 Race versus principles: parallels in other research......Page 198 Racial diversity and kindred american politics research orientations......Page 201 References......Page 205 Index......Page 215 Race and racial diversity are important aspects of America and have been shown to substantially affect social relations and the political system, often in ways inconsistent with the values of equality. However, greater civic association and a general sense of community, embodied in the concept of social capital, are said to have tremendous beneficial effects and profoundly influence American society. This 2007 study juxtaposes and critically assesses two bodies of research that have reached different conclusions on these issues. Is America's legacy of racial inequality an 'evil twin' of the benefits of social capital? By analysing the social outcomes for racial minorities, in addition to other dimensions of American politics, the author shows that the impact of racial diversity consistently outweighs that of social capital. Introduction -- The Social Capital Thesis -- The Racial Diversity Thesis -- Examining Social Outcomes, And Civic And Economic Equality -- Voter Turnout And Other Forms Of Participation In Context / With Caroline Tolbert -- Public Policy Outputs -- Conclusions. Rodney E. Hero. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 185-194) And Index. This book connects and critically assesses two bodies of research - social capital and racial diversity