The Ethnic Composition of the Neighbourhood and Ethnic Minorities' Social Contacts: Three Unresolved Issues

It is frequently supposed that the ethnic composition of a neighbourhood affects ethnic minorities' social contacts with natives, co-ethnics and other ethnic minorities. Research to date, however, falls short in several ways. First of all, previous studies often did not consider social contacts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European sociological review 2011-10, Vol.27 (5), p.586-605
Main Authors: Vervoort, Miranda, Flap, Henk, Dagevos, Jaco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competition
Cultural Pluralism
Cultures and civilizations
Ethnic diversity
Ethnic groups
Ethnic groups. Acculturation. Cultural identity
Ethnic minorities
Ethnic pluralism
Ethnicity
Friendship
Group composition
Interethnic relations
Language minorities
Minority Groups
Multiculturalism
Multilevel models
Neighborhoods
Neighbourhoods
Netherlands
Racial integration
Residential Mobility
Social Contact
Social integration
Social relations
Socioeconomic status
Sociology
Statistical variance
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Summary:It is frequently supposed that the ethnic composition of a neighbourhood affects ethnic minorities' social contacts with natives, co-ethnics and other ethnic minorities. Research to date, however, falls short in several ways. First of all, previous studies often did not consider social contacts with co-ethnics and other ethnic minorities. Second, although different mechanisms (i.e. meeting opportunities, ethnic competition theory, 'third parties' and constrict theory) point to different dimensions of the ethnic composition of the neighbourhood (the percentage of ethnic minorities, the percentage of co-ethnics, and ethnic diversity), there is a lack of research that systematically studies these different dimensions of the ethnic composition of the neighbourhood in relation to ethnic minorities' social contacts. Third, other relevant neighbourhood characteristics (economic disadvantage and residential mobility) are often neglected. The present study sought to address these three unresolved issues. Results of multivariate multilevel analyses of survey data on ethnic minorities in the Netherlands (N= 4,216) show that both the percentage of ethnic minorities and the degree of ethnic diversity relate to less contact with natives, but more contact with co-ethnics and other ethnic minorities. The percentage of co-ethnics is only related to more contact with co-ethnics. Results and policy implications are discussed.
ISSN:0266-7215
1468-2672
DOI:10.1093/esr/jcq029