TY - JOUR
T1 - Inter-Ethnic Neighbourhood Acquaintances of Migrants and Natives in Germany
T2 - On the Brokering Roles of Inter-Ethnic Partners and Children
AU - Schaeffer, Merlin
PY - 2013/9/1
Y1 - 2013/9/1
N2 - Social scientists have long emphasised the importance of personal inter-ethnic contact for overcoming prejudices and enhancing social cohesion in mixed societies. But why do some people have more contact with their neighbours of other ethnicity? Using new data from a large-scale German survey, I analyse the brokering roles of children and inter-ethnic partners in explaining inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances. Even on a contextual level, my results suggest that people living in regions with larger shares of children have more inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances, which expands earlier findings on the general integrating function of children. However, I also argue that we should recognise brokering to be context-specific and exemplify this by showing how the brokering role of inter-ethnic partners is evident particularly in interaction with inter-ethnic encounters at local bars and restaurants, while that of children is evident particularly given their frequent inter-ethnic encounters in public parks and playgrounds. On a theoretical level, my results demonstrate the importance of studying the interaction of mechanisms in explaining personal (inter-ethnic) contact.
AB - Social scientists have long emphasised the importance of personal inter-ethnic contact for overcoming prejudices and enhancing social cohesion in mixed societies. But why do some people have more contact with their neighbours of other ethnicity? Using new data from a large-scale German survey, I analyse the brokering roles of children and inter-ethnic partners in explaining inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances. Even on a contextual level, my results suggest that people living in regions with larger shares of children have more inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances, which expands earlier findings on the general integrating function of children. However, I also argue that we should recognise brokering to be context-specific and exemplify this by showing how the brokering role of inter-ethnic partners is evident particularly in interaction with inter-ethnic encounters at local bars and restaurants, while that of children is evident particularly given their frequent inter-ethnic encounters in public parks and playgrounds. On a theoretical level, my results demonstrate the importance of studying the interaction of mechanisms in explaining personal (inter-ethnic) contact.
KW - Brokering
KW - Ethnic Diversity
KW - Inter-Ethnic Contact
KW - Neighbourhood
KW - Networks
KW - Weak Ties
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882274936&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.778147
DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.778147
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84882274936
SN - 1369-183X
VL - 39
SP - 1219
EP - 1240
JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
IS - 8
ER -