Introduction: super-diversity in everyday life

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the introduction to this special issue, we consider a number of questions central to the study of super-diversity in urban contexts in Western Europe and the United States. We begin with a discussion of why the super-diversity concept has had more impact on scholarship in Western Europe than the United States, where it has had much less resonance. We explore the nature and effects of super-diversity for ongoing social relations in everyday life, considering both the positive and negative consequences. And we conclude with a consideration of some unfulfilled promises of super-diversity, including integrating the dimension of power into the analyses as well as finding ways to examine the many bases and intersections of different forms of diversity, while at the same time not downplaying the role of continued and long-term inequalities, such as race and class, that typically remain of primary importance in super-diverse settings.