Cross-cleavage capital

Abstract

Homophily-our tendency to form ties with people like ourselves-is a near-universal feature of human social networks. Scholars often assume that ties between members of different racial, ethnic, or religious groups will not only be rarer but also weaker on average than ties within these groups, thereby exacerbating conflict, curtailing the flow of information, and impeding the provision of public goods. Yet relationships that lack emotional depth may still be powerful in other ways. Drawing on case studies from the 1992-5 Bosnian War, the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, and a conflict prevention experiment in 56 New Jersey middle schools, I examine the power and resilience of cross-group ties in the face of deep social cleavages. In Chapter 2, I use data from a national census, a nationwide door-to-door survey, and 160 interviews to show that cross-group ties played an essential role in aiding and protecting tens of thousands of Bosnians faced with persecution and wartime violence. Although ties between Muslims, Serbs, and Croats were generally weaker than ties within these groups, the strength of these ties appears to have made little difference in people's willingness to help one another. In Chapter 3, I use data from a massive online survey to show that ties between Black and non-Black Americans, weak ties, and bridging ties were instrumental in mobilizing unprecedented non-Black turnout at racial justice protests. In Chapter 4, I extend randomization inference techniques for measuring peer effects in networks to gauge the relative effectiveness of strong, weak, and cross-cleavage ties. I test these new causal inference methods though simulations as well as a replication analysis of an intervention aimed at reducing adolescent conflict. Specifically, I examine whether students enrolled in the anti-conflict program reshaped the attitudes of both best friends and other peers they frequently interact with, including those of a different race or gender. Taken together, these three studies suggest that even weak cross-group ties contribute to our cross-cleavage capital, enabling us to summon assistance, mobilize allies, and transmit social norms across a conflict cleavage. As a result, policies and programs promoting intergroup contact may be successful at reducing conflict even in the absence of deep emotional bonds.--Author's abstract