Are Diverse Communities Disfunctional Communities?
Robert Putnam is a social scientist, a pioneer of the word "social capital" which drives my work and many others in the world of "community engagement". Social capital, as probably most of you civic minded folk know, is the idea that people invest with things other than money. When you make an effort to make friends and learn about your surroundings you are investing social capital. Part of what I do is run programs that seek to increase social capital among neighbors with the hope that their interactions will overcome the general malaise that inhibits low income/high diversity areas. That malaise is what Robert Putnam talks about in his new research which concludes that areas with high diversity produce people who lack trust, don't vote, don't volunteer and are just all-around lacking in the arena of civic engament. For the most part I want to take a "this is no news to me" attitude, but it is an intersting study nonetheless because he is taking a maxim that a lot of us hold true "diverse places are richer envormenments" and ripping it apart.
Here is a summary of his thesis that doesn't really do much to advance any findings,
but here he is "On Point" with Pat Buchanan and another professor.
ps. How awesome is the "On Point" theme music? It sounds like a DJ Shadow mix. And their program music is the band Zero 7 from the Garden State soundtrack, but who I had never heard from before randomly burning their cd off a friends computer in Ecuador.
4 comments:
For my reading group, I just read a good portion of Bowling Along, Putnam's extended book presenting the data and implications of decreasing civic engagement.
And I just wanted to respond to the summary of his findings. His findings were: "areas with high diversity produce people who lack trust, don't vote, don't volunteer and are just all-around lacking in the arena of civic engagement."
Our parents were around when Jim Crow laws were in effect. That's not very long ago.
The economic impacts and cultural remnants of that continue to deprive "diverse," generally low-income communities, of their social capital.
From our exploitation and murder of native communities to the Jim Crow South and up to today, I think the cycle of a lack of resources, trust, engagement, and social capital, has been an intentional policy of America's government or corporatocracy.
During slavery, Blacks were deprived of their faith, history, and culture. Immigrant and low-income communities are experiencing the same thing today, with laws against Spanish in government business, higher incarceration and homelessness in minority and low-income communities, and more.
I'm just trying to get down to some of the root causes, not just taking this man's findings and agreeing with him that diversity is negative for social capital. There's more to it, right?
I read the article once this morning, and wanted to come back to the reading this evening, but when I clicked the link, I got denied access. [Damn you, boston.com!]From what I remember, I had a few thoughts.
Putnam argues that people in diverse communities don't trust each other, and thus, do not socially participate. But that begs the question, "Why don't people trust each other?"
This is where, Ben, I think you're right. There's more to it.
May it be cultural intimidation, assimilation, social hierarchy, or as alluded in the comment above, a deeply rooted history of oppression, there MUST be other causes of distrust. It can't solely be a product of diversification.
The bad news. Putnam's findings and their implications can be used to justify decreasing diversity for the sake of social capital. Ugh, I can hear anti-immigration politicians manipulating these findings now.
The good news. Putnam's findings (like all social research) is limited. His thesis scratches only the surface of human interaction. It leaves people wondering 'why is this so?' rather than just agreeing that diversity is the cause of social apathy.
The better news, segregation or non-diversity isn't the logical solution- since it was probably the root cause. Those two things would only cause even more distrust between groups... a vicious cycle. Diversity, though in the short-run, may cause a decrease in social capital, may be exactly what we need to increase social capital in the long run.
Yo Faust, thought-provoking article, homie. What do you do for work?
As someone who lives in a VERY diverse neighborhood but is not as socially aware as Ben or probably the other readers of this blog, I thought I would throw my ideas out to try and increase understanding.
As a background I live on a block that has nice neighborhoods in all directions but north. I am three blocks east of the convention center, 3 blocks north of the verizon center, and 5 blocks west of union station. I lvie in a 1.5 year old 15 story apartment building that is very nice. There are 3 similar buildings to the west and they are in the process of putting up 3 more (including one to the north). On this same block I have a porno store (with viewing booths), a liquor store, a strip club, a barber shop, and a womens shelter.
To be honest some shit goes down every single day. Either a fight or a drug bust or something is ee flashing lights out my window on a daily basis. And the fact of the matter is nthat its not the people who live in my building that are getting arrested. This generally leads me to believe that not everyone spending time on my block has the best of intentions. i.e. I flat out do not trust them nor do I think it would be wise to. (my car has been broken into and Jenn's bike has been stolen)
I participate in the community in the ways I can. I probably was the first white person in years to have their har cut at the barber shop and I certainly have patronized the liquor store. But im not out trying to get in on the pickup basketball game, even if that is something I would LOVE to do in my neighborhood.
Additionally, I cannot walk on my block without getting asked for money. And that makes me less willing to socially engage because I generally do not give my money away but struggle with saying no.
I am the community engagment coordinator at a housing non profit in Chelsea, Ma. Its a smakll office with a lot of crossover but essentially I run a social networking program consisting of structured community dinner, a revitalization plan with heavy resident involvement and handle a lot of the communication responsibilities.
Timmy's block is an interesting case study. The diversity seems more economic than racial and very structured diversity. If you live in this building you are probably white (upper) middle class if you dont you are probably (lower) middle class and black. Its also interesting because there is no reason to increase interaction on behalf of the whites because they probably think that in a couple years it will be completely gentrified. My neighborhood has racial diversity and little economic diversity and I think it is easier to show people the long term benefits of networking.
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