Posted on 06/28/2007 6:48:01 PM PDT by television is just wrong
Robert Putnam’s sobering new diversity research scares its author. 25 June 2007
Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities. He fears that his work on the surprisingly negative effects of diversity will become part of the immigration debate, even though he finds that in the long run, people do forge new communities and new ties.
Putnam’s study reveals that immigration and diversity not only reduce social capital between ethnic groups, but also within the groups themselves. Trust, even for members of one’s own race, is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friendships fewer. The problem isn’t ethnic conflict or troubled racial relations, but withdrawal and isolation. Putnam writes: “In colloquial language, people living in ethnically diverse settings appear to ‘hunker down’—that is, to pull in like a turtle.”
In the 41 sites Putnam studied in the U.S., he found that the more diverse the neighborhood, the less residents trust neighbors. This proved true in communities large and small, from big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Boston to tiny Yakima, Washington, rural South Dakota, and the mountains of West Virginia. In diverse San Francisco and Los Angeles, about 30 percent of people say that they trust neighbors a lot. In ethnically homogeneous communities in the Dakotas, the figure is 70 percent to 80 percent.
Diversity does not produce “bad race relations,” Putnam says. Rather, people in diverse communities tend “to withdraw even from close friends, to expect the worst from their community and its leaders, to volunteer less, give less to charity and work on community projects less often, to register to vote less, to agitate for social reform more, but have less faith that they can actually make a difference, and to huddle unhappily in front of the television.” Putnam adds a crushing footnote: his findings “may underestimate the real effect of diversity on social withdrawal.”
ENJOY. Multiculturalism Diversity Destroys.
posted:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857187/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1856597/posts
Di’ver’si’ty - A compound word from the root words: Division and perversity.
fears that his work on the surprisingly negative effects of diversity
Surprised who? His dog?
His findings back my experience in California.
Which will be repeated all over the country if Bush gets his way. His refusal to enforce the law and deport the illegals drowning California keeps this place from recovering.
This certainly fits with our experience. Our kids’ elementary school had a high proportion of students whose families had recently immigrated. While the youngsters generally did well and adjusted to their new environment, it was very difficult to get their parents involved in school and community activities. They supported their kids academically, but they were very reluctant to volunteer their time to the PTO, Scouts, or other functions. I think some of this reflects culture, and some of it reflects priorities. It’s more important to these families to get financially and professionally grounded in their new land than to volunteer in the community. It’s understandable, but frustrating at times nonetheless.
How would Mexico feel if we just dumped 15 million of our citizens on their laps to support, house, feed and give medical care to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.