Ethnic Diversity and Personal Contacts at Work and at School in the Netherlands: A Comparison of Natives and Ethnic Minorities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ethnic Diversity and Personal Contacts at Work and at School in the Netherlands

T2 - A Comparison of Natives and Ethnic Minorities

AU - Huijts, Timothy Hubertus Maria

AU - Sluiter, Roderick

AU - Scheepers, Peer

AU - Kraaykamp, Gerbert

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - We examined to what extent ethnic diversity in neighborhoods and municipalities in the Netherlands is related to personal contacts at work and at school with the ethnic in- and out-groups, among the native majority as well as ethnic minorities. Constrict theory, ethnic competition theory, and contact theory are used to derive hypotheses. A unique Dutch dataset with an oversampling of two large minority groups is analyzed with three-level multilevel regression models. The results indicate that ethnic diversity at the municipality level is negatively related to personal contacts with native colleagues and schoolmates, but positively related to personal contacts with colleagues and schoolmates from other ethnic groups. Ethnic diversity at the neighborhood level is not related to personal contacts at work and at school. This applies equally to native respondents and Turks and Moroccans, rejecting Putnam's hunkering down hypothesis and ethnic competition theory. Instead, ethnic diversity increases meeting opportunities with ethnic minorities while decreasing meeting opportunities with the native majority.

AB - We examined to what extent ethnic diversity in neighborhoods and municipalities in the Netherlands is related to personal contacts at work and at school with the ethnic in- and out-groups, among the native majority as well as ethnic minorities. Constrict theory, ethnic competition theory, and contact theory are used to derive hypotheses. A unique Dutch dataset with an oversampling of two large minority groups is analyzed with three-level multilevel regression models. The results indicate that ethnic diversity at the municipality level is negatively related to personal contacts with native colleagues and schoolmates, but positively related to personal contacts with colleagues and schoolmates from other ethnic groups. Ethnic diversity at the neighborhood level is not related to personal contacts at work and at school. This applies equally to native respondents and Turks and Moroccans, rejecting Putnam's hunkering down hypothesis and ethnic competition theory. Instead, ethnic diversity increases meeting opportunities with ethnic minorities while decreasing meeting opportunities with the native majority.

KW - Ethnic diversity

KW - Ethnic minorities

KW - Multilevel models

KW - Neighborhoods

KW - Netherlands

KW - Social capital

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84898054656&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12134-013-0286-4

DO - 10.1007/s12134-013-0286-4

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84898054656

SN - 1488-3473

VL - 15

SP - 277

EP - 298

JO - Journal of International Migration and Integration

JF - Journal of International Migration and Integration

IS - 2

ER -