Exposure and Preferences: Evidence from Indian Slums

Abstract

AbstractHow is physical proximity to ethnic outgroups related to intergroup hostility and coethnic voting? These relationships remain murky despite extensive study, in part because existing measures of heterogeneity are too geographically coarse and provide little insight into interpersonal contact. I introduce a measure of outgroup exposure, the k‐nearest‐neighbors score, which sidesteps fundamental measurement issues by disaggregating to the level of the individual. Using original geocoded network data from eight neighborhoods, I confirm that this metric reflects social contact at the individual level. I then apply this exposure metric to an original, large‐n survey experiment from surveys in 149 neighborhoods in cities across India to test whether individual residential exposure is associated with outgroup hostility and coethnic voting. I find that proximity to an ethnic outgroup is associated with a preference for coethnic candidates, but is not associated with greater hostility toward members of the outgroup.