title: Does relative out-group size in neighborhoods drive down associational life of Whites in the U.S.? Testing constrict, conflict and contact theories.
abstract: We test whether a larger percentage of non-Whites in neighborhoods decreases associational involvement and build on earlier research in three ways. First, we explicitly consider the ethnic composition of organizations, distinguishing involvement in bridging (with out-group members) and bonding (only in-group members) organizations. Second, we start from constrict theory and test competing sets of predictions derived from conflict and contact theories to explain these relationships. Third, we examine whether relative out-group size affects involvement in different types of voluntary organizations equally. Using data from the 2005 U.S. 'Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy' survey, the percentage of non-Whites in neighborhoods is largely unrelated with associational involvement or perceived ethnic threat. However, perceiving ethnic threat is consistently negatively related with involvement in bridging organizations. Simultaneously, a larger percentage of non-Whites fosters intergroup contact, which is negatively related with perceptions of ethnic threat and involvement in bonding leisure organizations. Our results shed more light on the relationship between the relative out-group size in neighborhoods and associational involvement as well as underlying explanations for this link.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.savelkoul@maw.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savelkoul
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK. Electronic address: miles.hewstone@psy.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Miles
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hewstone
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.scheepers@maw.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Peer
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheepers
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2T7, Canada. Electronic address: dietlind.stolle@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Dietlind
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stolle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005006:Ethnicity; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007899:Leisure Activities; D009938:Organizations; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D066270:Social Capital; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D044465:White People
keywords: Associational involvement; Bonding and bridging formal social capital; Intergroup contact; Perceived ethnic threat; Relative out-group size