Ethnic Diversity across Individuals' Lives: how our pasts shape our futures
Much of what we know assumes that as diversity increases within peoples’ communities social cohesion shifts accordingly. However, how adults respond to ethnically diverse environments is likely influenced by all kinds of experiences throughout their lives, such as the attitudes of their parents, the diversity of their schools, and how diverse the neighbourhoods were they grew up in.
KEY QUESTIONS:
- Can diverse schools and neighbourhoods help buffer against pejorative parental attitudes? Or, do
negative parental attitudes impede any positive effects of diversity?
- Do experiences of diversity in schools/neighbourhood in one’s youth continue to affect social cohesion
throughout one’s life? And, how persistent are the effects of parental attitudes on later life social
cohesion?
- How far do such experiences of diversity in youth influence how people respond to experiencing diversity
in their adult lives? And are potential short-term negative impacts of diversity offset by longer-term
processes of integration?
KEY QUESTIONS:
- Can diverse schools and neighbourhoods help buffer against pejorative parental attitudes? Or, do
negative parental attitudes impede any positive effects of diversity?
- Do experiences of diversity in schools/neighbourhood in one’s youth continue to affect social cohesion
throughout one’s life? And, how persistent are the effects of parental attitudes on later life social
cohesion?
- How far do such experiences of diversity in youth influence how people respond to experiencing diversity
in their adult lives? And are potential short-term negative impacts of diversity offset by longer-term
processes of integration?