Drawing attention to the importance of peoples' perceptions of diversity in explaining levels of social cohesion, Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion shows how specific types of perceived diversity can help explain the reasons for which ethnic diversity is associated with declines in social cohesion.
A Baker & Taylor Academic Essentials Title in Area/Ethnic Studies: Multicultural Studies 'Does ethnic diversity weaken social solidarity? Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion will be a must read for anyone who wants to find out what social science research has uncovered in answer to this question. Merlin Schaeffer reports findings from a major opinion survey in Germany; he fits them into a comprehensive analysis of results from a mass of studies in many other countries, and draws out the implications for future social policy. It is a masterly work, reviewing, and synthesising, a huge and difficult body of research.' Michael Banton, Professor emeritus, University of Bristol, UK 'This is the most thoughtful, comprehensive, and rigorous contribution that I have yet seen to the lively scholarly debate about ethnic diversity and social cohesion. Merlin Schaeffer's new book announces the presence on the international social scientific stage of a promising new star.' Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University, USA 'A thoughtful study of an area that has generated much controversy, which also contains valuable pointers to future policy. Drawing largely on the literature in sociology and political science, this work shows the fundamental importance of actual inter-ethnic contact, not mere co-existence, for social cohesion in diverse societies.' Miles Hewstone, University of Oxford, UK 'Merlin Schaeffer's book Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion: Immigration, Ethnic Fractionalization and Potentials for Civic Action arrives as a comprehensive review of to-date debates and methods, and it also brings diverse, often contradictory arguments together, and points to new research directions. ... Ethnic Diversity and Social Cohesion should be an essential read for social scientists studying social change in European societies brought about by international mobility and ethnic diversification.' Central and Eastern European Migration Review 'This is both a thorough and
