Identifier	Thesis 1807
Author	Nowacki, Elzbieta
Title	Relationship of neighborhood diversity to generalized trust, racial trust and trust of neighbors
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date of Publication	2005
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Abstract	The United States has always been a diverse culture since everyone (except the Native Americans) came from somewhere else. In recent decades, many people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America immigrated to this country (Alba & Nee, 2003). Now many of our communities face the challenges and opportunities associated with rapid growth of racial and ethnic minorities. As our society becomes more functionally multicultural and organizations grow correspondingly more diverse, contact with people who are different from oneself will be inevitable (Jones, Lynch, Tenglund & Gaertner, 2000). An analysis of economic and social wellbeing of American citizens undertaken by former President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) at the request of the Advisory Board of the President's Initiative on Race illustrates the continuing problem of racial differences in well-being (Jones et al., 2000). The data from the CEA Report (Jones et al., 2000) indicate that by the year 2050, non-Hispanic Blacks, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans will together compromise half of the U.S. population. Diversity presents two challenges to Americans. First, differences may result into prejudice that in contact situations may lead to ethnic/racial tensions, interpersonal stereotyping, and intergroup biases. Second, differences may undermine communication, cooperation, and concerted effort and productivity (Jones et al., 2000). The research on intergroup relations has presented a mixed picture regarding the consequences of intergroup contact. Jones and colleagues (2000) suggest that cooperation between members of diverse groups, conceptualized by the condition of contact, is effective at promoting positive intergroup relationship. Zajonc (1968) has suggested that the opportunity to interact with diverse others may contribute to more positive attitudes towards others. Others, such as Blalock (1967) report such interaction can increase negative feelings. Sigelman and Welch (1993) noted that the interracial contact affects racial attitudes, not the reverse. Those who are more positively disposed to members of other races could actively seek them out as friends, and choose to live in proximity to them, while others could either make no effort to cement interracial friendships or avoid interracial contact altogether. Given the differing perspectives suggested by the research on the impact of interracial contact on attitudes, the present study examines the relationship between neighborhood diversity and social and racial trust using data from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey (The Social Capital Benchmark Survey, 2001, retrieved from http://www.cfsv.org/communitysurvey). The following sections present a review of the literature on this topic including segregation, contact hypothesis and prejudice, interracial contact, neighborhoods diversity, and trust. Next, it describes the methodology of the present study.
Subject	Multiculturalism -- Psychological aspects Ethnic neighborhoods -- United States Trust
Department	Department of Psychology
Advisor	Goldstein, Marc B.
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734334
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Relationship of neighborhood diversity to generalized trust, racial trust and trust of neighbors

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