Diversity, trust, and intergroup attitudes: Underlying processes and mechanisms

Many of us now live in ethnically, racially, or otherwise diverse neighborhoods or cities (see, e.g., Vertovec, 2007), and Western societies continue to grow ever more diverse (see Cornelius and Rosenblum, 2005). This diversity has raised the question of the potential consequences of such diversity for outcomes related to social capital, an issue that remains contentious in both academic and public policy domains alike. As a result there now exists a wealth of studies in many different contexts and countries examining the effects of living in diverse neighborhoods or cities on the growth and distribution of social capital. Despite this research, relatively little is as yet known about the processes and mechanisms that explain how diversity may, or may not, affect social capital.