Reconciling the contact and threat hypotheses: does ethnic diversity strengthen or weaken community inter-ethnic relations?

Abstract

The literature on whether community diversity has a positive effect on individuals' inter-ethnic attitudes (contact hypothesis) or a negative effect (threat hypothesis) remains inconclusive. Most studies infer mechanisms of contact or threat based on the relationship between diversity and mean levels of prejudice in a community. We suggest that both processes of threat and contact may be occurring with increasing diversity. By applying a measure of individual-level contact, this paper demonstrates that increasing community diversity does have a negative effect on inter-ethnic attitudes but only among individuals without inter-ethnic ties. Among those who do form ties, increasing diversity has no effect – that is, contact moderates the negative effect of community diversity. However, this relationship is further moderated by levels of disadvantage in the community. This paper has important implications for the use of the contact/threat hypotheses in studies of contextual diversity and the wider debate on rising diversity in the UK.