Premium
Creating Stable Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in the United States: A Model for the Future
Author(s) -
Peterman William,
Nyden Philip
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9515.00218
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , ethnically diverse , immigration , context (archaeology) , cultural diversity , white (mutation) , ethnic group , political science , sociology , geography , law , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology , gene
We examine fourteen stable, racially and ethnically diverse communities in nine US cities to understand what produces such communities. These communities in the context of the US experience of increased, multiracial, and multiethnic diversity in the early twenty‐first century can serve as a policy model as both the US and European nations look ahead toward more diverse societies. After providing a brief history of US segregation patterns, we provide an analysis of factors related to stable diversity. We found two types of diversity. Diversity‐by‐direction communities, which are more likely to be black:white communities, consciously worked to preserve diversity through an array of community‐based efforts. Diverse‐by‐circumstance communities, which are more likely to be multiracial, multiethnic communities with significant immigrant populations, have been faced with an unplanned diversity, which they are now working to preserve. Among the characteristics of stable diverse communities are the presence of: social seams linking different groups, community organizations involved in preserving diversity, public discussion of values of what produces ‘good’ community, and distinctive physical or environmental characteristics that continue to attract new residents.