Thinking About Robert Putnam's Analysis of Diversity

Bibliographic Data

ID2135279
AuthorsMartin Kilson (Harvard University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume6
Issue2
Pages293-308
Publication date2009-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDu Bois Review Social Science Research on Race (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1742-058X • E-ISSN: 1742-0598
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1742058x09990191
OpenAlexW2161550754
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited23

The article evaluates Robert Putnam's discussion of two differing concepts of the role of the diversity perspective toward inter-ethnic/inter-racial relationships in American society since the 1960s-namely, the "contact theory" and the "conflict theory." The former was initially formulated by Harvard social psychologist Gordon Allport in The Nature of Prejudice (1954). Putnam's analysis-published in the comparative politics journal Scandinavian Political Studies (Vol. 30, No. 2, 2007)-favors the "conflict theory," which holds that diversity sharpens "us-against-them" inter-ethnic/inter-racial interactions. Putnam's view opposes diversity-influenced public policies. By contrast, "contact theory" holds that diversity erodes "us-against-them" interactions and thus eventually democratizes such interactions, and thereby American society generally. "Contact theory" influenced the NAACP-led civil-rights movement's quest for desegregation public policies during the 1950s, 1960s, and onward

Civil rights · Cultural diversity · Desegregation · Diversity (politics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Perspective (graphical · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Prejudice (legal term · Sociology · Anthropology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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