Social mix revisited: within- and across-neighborhood ties between ethnic minorities of differing socioeconomic backgrounds

Abstract

ABSTRACTCreating social mix in neighborhoods has been an important urban policy during the past years. The aim is the development of category-crossing ties between the middle and lower classes. However, studies found little evidence of such ties. This paper identifies two reasons why this might be the case. First, studies usually analyze the resource flow from native middle classes to disadvantaged residents. Second, the resource flow is analyzed within one neighborhood only. Based on interviews and network analysis with second generation, upwardly mobile Turkish-Germans in Berlin, I show that they act as cultural and language brokers, benefiting lower class co-ethnics. They provide exactly the information and resources to people with a lower class background that are envisioned by social mixing programs. Moreover, the resource flow occurs within but also across neighborhoods, whereby ‘second neighborhoods’ such as the previous neighborhood or the neighborhood where the workplace is located are particularly important.