Revisiting the urbanization-violence nexus: The mediating effects of local ethnic diversity

Abstract

Urban concentration and rapid rural-urban migration are often considered factors that trigger violence. The empirical evidence, however, is mixed: many studies find either an undetermined or even a negative relationship between urbanization and violence. This paper reviews the literatures on urbanization, mass emotions, and ethnic conflicts to advance our understanding of the urbanization-violence nexus. We argue that the effect of urbanization on violence is conditional on local conditions such as ethnic diversity: in ethnically homogenous areas, urbanization increases economic welfare and the provision of public goods and services, therefore lowering the chances of ethnic violence; in ethnically diverse areas, the increased economic welfare by urbanization is often distributed along ethnic lines, intensifying between-group grievances and negative emotions and increasing the chances of violence. To illustrate the dynamic mechanisms between mass emotions and ethnic conflict in the process of urbanization, we present empirical evidence from our case study of Xinjiang, China. The drastic urbanization in ethnic diverse societies like Xinjiang aggravates rival ethnic sentiments and essentializes the perception of ethnic status (dominant vs. dominated), which is critical in triggering ethnic conflict events.