17. 03. 2011 | 11:00 |  B 002/003

Tim Reeskens* | ** Matthew Wright
Nationalism and the Cohesive Society
A Multi-Level Analysis of the Interplay between Diversity, National Identity, and Social Capital across 27 European Societies
 

Abstract

A spate of work has demonstrated tensions between ethnocultural diversity and social capital. Some have suggested that attachment to the nation can foster cross-group trust, particularly if this national self-definition is ‘civic’ in character rather than ‘ethnic’ (the Miller-thesis). Similarly, others have argued that civic nations are less likely to suffer reduced social capital in response to increased diversity, as the sense of threat that typically emerges in ethnically diverse contexts will be mitigated (the Putnam-thesis). We test these hypotheses on 27 countries using both contextual-level data and the latest wave of the European Values Study (2008). Though the evidence is mixed on civic nationalism, we find strong evidence that ethnic nationalism goes hand-in-hand with reduced social capital, and that it increases the negative social impact of diversity. So, while our study only partially confirms the benefits of civic nationalism, it clearly underlines the costs of its ethnic variety.

*  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tilburg University, Department of
    Sociology
** Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School
    of Government