Abstract
Abstract Recent waves of immigration have changed the demographic face of European societies and fueled considerable debate over the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion. One prominent argument in this debate holds that individuals are less willing to extend trust and solidarity across ethnic lines, leading to lower social capital in multiethnic communities. We present a direct test of this proposition in a field experiment involving native-immigrant interactions in Zurich's Central Train Station. Our intervention consists of approaching commuters with a small request for assistance (borrowing a mobile phone), which we take as a measure of prosociality. We further differentiate between reactions towards natives as well as both high- and low-status immigrant groups. Compared to native-native interactions, we find lower solidarity in native-immigrant encounters, especially in cases involving stereotypically low-status immigrants. In exploratory analyses, we further show that discrimination only obtains in 'low cost' situations where commuters could easily justify not helping (e.g. by claiming not to carry a phone). Overall our results shed light on key theoretical mechanisms underlying patterns of solidarity in contemporary multiethnic societies.
Highlights
IntroductionRecent waves of immigration have changed the demographic face of European societies. According to official data from the European Commission, first- and secondgeneration immigrants comprise between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the population in countries such as France, Britain, and Germany (Eurostat, 2015)
Recent waves of immigration have changed the demographic face of European societies and fueled considerable debate over the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion
While we find evidence of discrimination directed against confederates posing as Germans, the ethnic penalty is substantively larger and more robust for ‘generic’ immigrants. These results indicate that ethnic boundaries do play a role in explaining the oft-cited negative association between diversity and social cohesion, diversity’s detrimental effects may be largely driven by natives’ aversion towards stereotypically low-status groups (Schaub, Gereke and Baldassarri, forthcoming)
Summary
Recent waves of immigration have changed the demographic face of European societies. According to official data from the European Commission, first- and secondgeneration immigrants comprise between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the population in countries such as France, Britain, and Germany (Eurostat, 2015). While immigration flows have contributed positively to economic growth, innovation, and competitiveness (Surowiecki, 2005; Putnam, 2007; Page, 2008; Lorenz et al, 2011), these demographic shifts have fueled public anxieties and considerable academic debate about the potentially negative consequences of ethnic diversity for social solidarity in immigrant-receiving countries (for recent reviews, see Stichnoth and van der Straeten, 2013; Van der Meer and Tolsma, 2014; Schaeffer, 2016; Dinesen and Sønderskov, 2018).
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