The Downside to Diversity

[atlrvr]

Robert Putnam is a very socially liberal professor at Harvard, who interviewed over 30,000 people trying to determine why civic involvement is struggling, and how it could be linked to diversity. What he found was diversity hurts civic participation, but helps ingenuity.

Below is a paraphrasing of his study....

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/art...e_of_diversity/

Thoughts???

[kayman]

If there is any adversion to diversity, it is because many people in choose to stereotype and chose to be ignorant of those of different ethnic groups and cultures as "bad" rather than seeing a positive. As I don't have a problem with diversity, and enjoy meeting people from different cultures.

[krazeeboi]

That's just what I was going to say. Is it diversity itself that hurts civic engagement, or people's prejudices? Of course people will be more prone to socialize with those whom they share commonalities (race/ethnicity and otherwise), but that does not automatically translate into a decrease in civic participation across the board simply due to diversity.

[UptownNewOrleans]

If there is any adversion to diversity, it is because many people in choose to stereotype and chose to be ignorant of those of different ethnic groups and cultures as "bad" rather than seeing a positive. As I don't have a problem with diversity, and enjoy meeting people from different cultures.

[Miesian Corners]

^While we all might think that way, obviously most Americans do not. My God! His sample was 30,000 Americans! Not a small group. I'm going to have to read the study before I comment further. Anyone with access to a college or university library database can see the journal in question using JSTOR or PAIS.

[kayman]

After glancing at the article with this study and I noticed 2 flaws, age and general location of the participants. Those 2 variables are also significant factors that seems to be ignored in this study. It is also another reason why I am taking this study with a grain of salt.