1932

Abstract

Researchers have investigated the effects of ethnic heterogeneity on a range of socioeconomic and political outcomes. However, approaches to measuring ethnic diversity vary not only across fields of study but even within subfields. In this review, we systematically dissect the computational approaches of prominent measures of diversity, including polarization, and discuss where and how differences emerge in their relationships with outcomes of interest to sociologists (social capital and trust, economic growth and redistribution, conflict, and crime). There are substantial similarities across computations, which are often generalizations or specializations of one another. Differences in how racial and ethnic groupings are constructed and in level of geographic analysis explain many divergences in empirical findings. We conclude by summarizing the type of measurement technique preferred by outcome, when relevant, and provide considerations for future researchers contemplating how best to operationalize diversity. Finally, we highlight two less widely used yet promising measures of diversity.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-030420-015435
2022-07-29
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/soc/48/1/annurev-soc-030420-015435.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-030420-015435&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Abascal M, Baldassarri D. 2015. Love thy neighbor? Ethnoracial diversity and trust reexamined. Am. J. Sociol. 121:3722–82
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alesina A, Devleeschauwer A, Easterly W, Kurlat S, Wacziarg R. 2003. Fractionalization. J. Econ. Growth 8:2155–94
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Alesina A, Murard E, Rapoport H. 2021. Immigration and preferences for redistribution in Europe. J. Econ. Geogr. 21:6925–54
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Alesina A, Zhuravskaya E. 2011. Segregation and the quality of government in a cross section of countries. Am. Econ. Rev. 101:51872–911
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Annett A 2001. Social fractionalization, political instability, and the size of government. Work. Pap. 00/82 Int. Monet. Fund Washington, DC:
  6. Arbatlı CE, Ashraf QH, Galor O, Klemp M. 2020. Diversity and conflict. Econometrica 88:2727–97
    [Google Scholar]
  7. ASARB (Assoc. Stat. Am. Relig. Bodies) 1990. Churches and church membership in the United States, 1990 Data Set, ASARB/Lilly Endow. Lenexa, KS: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BMDAE
    [Crossref]
  8. ASARB (Assoc. Stat. Am. Relig. Bodies) 2000. Churches and church membership in the United States, 2000. Data Set ASARB Lenexa, KS: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AV9KG
    [Crossref]
  9. Baldassarri D, Abascal M. 2020. Diversity and prosocial behavior. Science 369:65081183–87
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Baldwin K, Huber JD. 2010. Economic versus cultural differences: forms of ethnic diversity and public goods provision. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 104:4644–62
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Barrett DB 1982. World Christian Encyclopedia Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
  12. Bossert W, D'Ambrosio C, Ferrara EL 2011. A generalized index of fractionalization. Economica 78:312723–50
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Brady D, Finnigan R. 2014. Does immigration undermine public support for social policy?. Am. Sociol. Rev. 79:17–42
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Breznau N, Rinke EM, Wuttke A, Nguyen HHV, Adem M et al. 2021. How many replicators does it take to achieve reliability? Investigating researcher variability in a crowdsourced replication. SocArXiv https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/j7qta/
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Bruk SI, Alenčenko VS, Telberg VG. 1964. Atlas Narodov Mira Moscow: Akad. Nauk SSSR
  16. Buhaug H, Rød JK. 2006. Local determinants of African civil wars, 1970–2001. Political Geogr. 25:3315–35
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Campos NF, Kuzeyev VS. 2007. On the dynamics of ethnic fractionalization. Am. J. Political Sci. 51:3620–39
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Cederman L-E, Girardin L. 2007. Beyond fractionalization: mapping ethnicity onto nationalist insurgencies. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 101:1173–85
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Cederman L-E, Wimmer A, Min B 2010. Why do ethnic groups rebel? New data and analysis. World Politics 62:187–119
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Chandra K, Wilkinson S. 2008. Measuring the effect of “ethnicity. .” Comp. Political Stud. 41:4/5515–63
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Churchill SA, Laryea E. 2019. Crime and ethnic diversity: cross-country evidence. Crime Delinq 65:2239–69
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Collier P, Hoeffler A. 2004. Greed and grievance in civil war. Oxf. Econ. Pap. 56:4563–95
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Collier P, Hoeffler A, Rohner D. 2008. Beyond greed and grievance: feasibility and civil war. Oxf. Econ. Pap. 61:11–27
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Dancygier R, Naoki E, Amaney J, Rischke R. 2022. Hate crimes and gender imbalances: fears over mate competition and violence against refugees. Am. J. Political Sci. 66:2501–15
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Desmet K, Ortuño-Ortín I, Wacziarg R. 2012. The political economy of linguistic cleavages. J. Dev. Econ. 97:2322–38
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Desmet K, Ortuño-Ortín I, Weber S 2005. Peripheral diversity and redistribution Discuss. Pap. 2005/44 CORE, UC Louvain Louvain, Belg:.
  27. Desmet K, Ortuño-Ortin I, Weber S 2009. Linguistic diversity and redistribution. J. Eur. Econ. Assoc. 7:61291–318
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Dinesen PT, Schaeffer M, Sønderskov KM. 2020. Ethnic diversity and social trust: a narrative and meta-analytical review. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 23:441–65
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Dinesen PT, Sønderskov KM. 2015. Ethnic diversity and social trust: evidence from the micro-context. Am. Sociol. Rev. 80:3550–73
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Drazanova L. 2020. Introducing the Historical Index of Ethnic Fractionalization (HIEF) dataset: accounting for longitudinal changes in ethnic diversity. J. Open Humanit. Data 6:16
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Duclos J-Y, Esteban J, Ray D 2004. Polarization: concepts, measurement, estimation. Econometrica 72:61737–72
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Easterly W, Levine R. 1997. Africa's growth tragedy: policies and ethnic divisions. Q. J. Econ. 112:41203–50
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Eger MA, Breznau N. 2017. Immigration and the welfare state: a cross-regional analysis of European welfare attitudes. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 58:5440–63
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Elbadawi E, Sambanis N. 2000. Why are there so many civil wars in Africa? Understanding and preventing violent conflict. J. Afr. Econ. 9:3244–69
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Ellingsen T. 2000. Colorful community or ethnic witches’ brew? Multiethnicity and domestic conflict during and after the Cold War. J. Confl. Resolut. 44:2228–49
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Esteban J, Mayoral L, Ray D. 2012. Ethnicity and conflict: an empirical study. Am. Econ. Rev. 102:41310–42
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Esteban J, Ray D 1994. On the measurement of polarization. Econometrica 62:4819–51
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Esteban J, Ray D 2011. Linking conflict to inequality and polarization. Am. Econ. Rev. 101:41345–74
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Eur. Values Study Group, World Values Surv. Assoc. 2006. European and World Values Surveys four-wave integrated data file, 1980–2004 Data File, ZA5080 version 1.0 ZA, Cologne: Ger. https://doi.org/10.4232/1.11159
    [Crossref]
  40. Fearon JD. 2003. Ethnic and cultural diversity by country. J. Econ. Growth 8:2195–222
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Fearon JD, Kasara K, Laitin DD. 2007. Ethnic minority rule and civil war onset. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 101:1187–93
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Fearon JD, Laitin DD. 2003. Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 97:175–90
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Finseraas H. 2012. Poverty, ethnic minorities among the poor, and preferences for redistribution in European regions. J. Eur. Soc. Policy 22:2164–80
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Forsberg E. 2008. Polarization and ethnic conflict in a widened strategic setting. J. Peace Res. 45:2283–300
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Greenberg JH. 1956. The measurement of linguistic diversity. Language 32:1109–15
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Gurr TR. 2009. MAR data Minorities at Risk Project Data Set, Cent. Int. Dev. Confl. Manag., Univ. Md. College Park: http://www.mar.umd.edu/mar_data.asp
  47. Habyarimana J, Humphreys M, Posner DN, Weinstein JM. 2007. Why does ethnic diversity undermine public goods provision?. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 101:4709–25
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Hainmueller J, Hiscox MJ. 2010. Attitudes toward highly skilled and low-skilled immigration: evidence from a survey experiment. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 104:161–84
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Hegre H, Sambanis N. 2006. Sensitivity analysis of empirical results on civil war onset. J. Confl. Resolut. 50:4508–35
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Hirschi T. 1969. Causes of Delinquency Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
  51. Horowitz DL. 2000. Ethnic Groups in Conflict Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press. , 2nd ed..
  52. Kesler C, Bloemraad I. 2010. Does immigration erode social capital? The conditional effects of immigration-generated diversity on trust, membership, and participation across 19 countries, 1981–2000. Can. J. Political Sci. 43:2319–47
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Kim Y-A. 2018. Examining the relationship between the structural characteristics of place and crime by imputing census block data in street segments: Is the pain worth the gain?. J. Quant. Criminol. 34:167–110
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Koopmans R, Schaeffer M. 2015. Relational diversity and neighbourhood cohesion: unpacking variety, balance and in-group size. Soc. Sci. Res. 53:162–76
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Lieberman ES, Singh P. 2012. Conceptualizing and measuring ethnic politics: an institutional complement to demographic, behavioral, and cognitive approaches. Stud. Comp. Int. Dev. 47:3255–86
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Marquardt KL, Herrera YM. 2015. Ethnicity as a variable: an assessment of measures and data sets of ethnicity and related identities. Soc. Sci. Q. 96:3689–716
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Mau S, Burkhardt C. 2009. Migration and welfare state solidarity in Western Europe. J. Eur. Soc. Policy 19:3213–29
    [Google Scholar]
  58. McVeigh R. 2006. Structural influences on activism and crime: identifying the social structure of discontent. Am. J. Sociol. 112:2510–66
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Montalvo JG, Reynal-Querol M. 2005. Ethnic polarization, potential conflict, and civil wars. Am. Econ. Rev. 95:3796–816
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Mozaffar S, Scarritt JR, Galaich G. 2003. Electoral institutions, ethnopolitical cleavages, and party systems in Africa's emerging democracies. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 97:3379–90
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Okediji TO. 2005. The dynamics of ethnic fragmentation. Am. J. Econ. Sociol. 64:2637–62
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Østby | 2008
    Østby G. 2008. Polarization, horizontal inequalities and violent civil conflict. J. Peace Res. 45:143–62
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Patsiurko N, Campbell JL, Hall JA. 2012. Measuring cultural diversity: ethnic, linguistic and religious fractionalization in the OECD. Ethn. Racial Stud. 35:2195–217
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Portes A, Vickstrom E. 2011. Diversity, social capital, and cohesion. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 37:461–79
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Posner DN. 2000. Ethnic fractionalization in Africa: How should it be measured? What does it explain about economic growth? Paper presented at World Bank Development Research Group Seminar Washington, DC: March 29
  66. Posner DN. 2004. Measuring ethnic fractionalization in Africa. Am. J. Political Sci. 48:4849–63
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Putnam RD. 2007. E pluribus unum: diversity and community in the twenty-first century. Scand. Political Stud. 30:2137–74
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Ramos MR, Bennett MR, Massey DS, Hewstone M. 2019. Humans adapt to social diversity over time. PNAS 116:2512244–49
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Reeskens T, Van Oorschot W. 2012. Disentangling the “new liberal dilemma”: on the relation between general welfare redistribution preferences and welfare chauvinism. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 53:2120–39
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Reynal-Querol M. 2002. Ethnicity, political systems, and civil wars. J. Confl. Resolut. 46:129–54
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Scheepers P, Gijsberts M, Coenders M. 2002. Ethnic exclusionism in European countries: public opposition to civil rights for legal migrants as a response to perceived ethnic threat. Eur. Sociol. Rev. 18:117–34
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Schmidt-Catran AW, Spies DC. 2016. Immigration and welfare support in Germany. Am. Sociol. Rev. 81:2242–61
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Semyonov M, Raijman R, Gorodzeisky A. 2008. Foreigners’ impact on European societies: public views and perceptions in a cross-national comparative perspective. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 49:15–29
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Senik C, Stichnoth H, Van der Straeten K. 2009. Immigration and natives’ attitudes towards the welfare state: evidence from the European Social Survey. Soc. Indic. Res. 91:3345–70
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Shaw CR, McKay HD. 1942. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
  76. Smith B. 2013. Separatist conflict in the former Soviet Union and beyond: How different was communism?. World Politics 65:2350–81
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Steele LG. 2016. Ethnic diversity and support for redistributive social policies. Soc. Forces 94:41439–81
    [Google Scholar]
  78. Steele LG, Abdelaaty L. 2019. Ethnic diversity and attitudes towards refugees. J. Ethn. Migr. Stud. 45:111833–56
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Steele LG, Perkins KM. 2019. The effects of perceived neighborhood immigrant population size on preferences for redistribution in New York City: a pilot study. Front. Sociol. 4:18
    [Google Scholar]
  80. Stichnoth H, Van der Straeten K. 2013. Ethnic diversity, public spending, and individual support for the welfare state: a review of the empirical literature. J. Econ. Surv. 27:2364–89
    [Google Scholar]
  81. Toft MD. 2005. The Geography of Ethnic Violence Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
  82. United Nations 2005. Trends in total migrant stock: the 2005 revision CD-ROM Doc., United Nations New York: https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Jan/un_2005_internationalmigrationstocks.pdf
  83. Van der Meer T, Tolsma J. 2014. Ethnic diversity and its effects on social cohesion. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 40:459–78
    [Google Scholar]
  84. Vanhanen T. 1999. Domestic ethnic conflict and ethnic nepotism: a comparative analysis. J. Peace Res. 36:155–73
    [Google Scholar]
  85. Ward DG. 2019. Public attitudes toward young immigrant men. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 113:1264–69
    [Google Scholar]
  86. Weidmann NB, Rød JK, Cederman L-E. 2010. Representing ethnic groups in space: a new dataset. J. Peace Res. 47:4491–99
    [Google Scholar]
  87. Wimmer A, Cederman L-E, Min B 2009. Ethnic politics and armed conflict: a configurational analysis of a new global data set. Am. Sociol. Rev. 74:2316–37
    [Google Scholar]
  88. Wong D. 2009. The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP). The SAGE Handbook of Spatial Analysis, eds. AS Fotheringham, P Rogerson 105–24 Los Angeles, CA: SAGE
    [Google Scholar]
  89. Wucherpfennig J, Metternich NW, Cederman L-E, Gleditsch KS. 2012. Ethnicity, the state, and the duration of civil war. World Politics 64:179–115
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-030420-015435
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-soc-030420-015435
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Supplemental Material

Supplementary Data

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error