Assessing Effect of Bridging Social Capital on the Attitudes Toward Immigrants in the U.S.: Does Race Matter?

Abstract

This study examines how bridging social capital affects attitudes toward immigrants in the U.S. Bridging social capital, a term which refers to social capital across heterogeneous groups of people beyond inner circles, might play an important role in understanding people’s way of perceiving difference and diversity. Considering inequality of social capital for racial minorities in the U.S., this study also examines whether the impact of bridging social capital on attitude towards immigrants varies by different racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. The analysis was based on the 2006 U.S. Social Capital Community Survey (SCCS) data set. A multinomial regression analysis and a heterogeneous choice model were conducted to test the aims of this study. The findings indicate that people who have a higher level of bridging social capital are more likely to hold favorable attitudes toward immigrants. In particular, the positive association between ‘trust towards others who are different’ and attitudes toward immigrants varied across racial groups: the positive effect becomes weaker for African Americans and other races, compared to whites. Overall, our findings provide important knowledge for understanding public attitudes toward immigrants in relation to bridging social capital. Moreover, the findings on inequality of social capital returns among minorities demonstrate the importance of understanding structural racial discrimination toward racial minorities in American society. Special attention should be given to underlying mechanisms.