Race and racial diversity are important aspects of America and have been shown to substantially affect social relations and the political system, often in ways inconsistent with the values of equality. However, greater civic association and a general sense of community, embodied in the concept of social capital, are said to have tremendous beneficial effects and profoundly influence American society. This study juxtaposes and critically assesses two bodies of research, including the work made famous in Robert Putnam''s Bowling Alone, that have reached different conclusions on these issues. Is America's legacy of racial inequality an 'evil twin' of the benefits of social capital? By analyzing the social outcomes for racial minorities, in addition to other dimensions of American politics, the author shows that the impact of racial diversity consistently outweighs that of social capital.
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"Focusing on fundamental questions that concern participation, public policy, and vectors of inequality, this thoughtful book enlarges our understanding of how race deeply constitutes many features of American politics and society. In so doing, it powerfully demonstrates the costs to empirical and normative theory when such matters are downplayed or underestimated, and the gains to understanding and possibility when they are brought from the periphery to the center of political analysis."
Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, author of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America (2005).
"Rodney Hero has done it again! With characteristic polish and aplomb, Hero moves the debate over racial diversity and social capital from Sturm und Drang to carefully considered, empirically testable propositions. Social capital, it turns out, is neither a Trojan horse nor a panacea for the deep divisions that characterize pluralistic societies. In many contexts, it works more toward the maintenance of white privilege than it does as a collective good, aiming toward the betterment of a community dans l'ensemble. This is a splendid, signal contribution."
Taeku Lee, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
"This is a long-awaited and important book...Coming from a distinguished scholar, Rodney E. Hero, it provides an invaluable contribution to the current culture versus structure debate, and its contents are relevant beyond the American context."
Paul M. Kellstedt, Journal of Politics
Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, author of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America (2005).
"Rodney Hero has done it again! With characteristic polish and aplomb, Hero moves the debate over racial diversity and social capital from Sturm und Drang to carefully considered, empirically testable propositions. Social capital, it turns out, is neither a Trojan horse nor a panacea for the deep divisions that characterize pluralistic societies. In many contexts, it works more toward the maintenance of white privilege than it does as a collective good, aiming toward the betterment of a community dans l'ensemble. This is a splendid, signal contribution."
Taeku Lee, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
"This is a long-awaited and important book...Coming from a distinguished scholar, Rodney E. Hero, it provides an invaluable contribution to the current culture versus structure debate, and its contents are relevant beyond the American context."
Paul M. Kellstedt, Journal of Politics
Book Description
Race and racial diversity are important aspects of America and have been shown to affect social relations and the political system. However, greater civic association and a general sense of community are said to profoundly influence American society. This book critically assesses these issues.
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Scientific Examination of the Social Capital Theory,
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This review is from: Racial Diversity and Social Capital: Equality and Community in America (Paperback)
Social capital is a scholarly measure of the personal interconnectedness of individuals within a society. Is it a mere coincidence that a drastic decline in "social capital" was accompanied by the civil rights movement and advances in minority rights? Is the declining level of social capital due to a decline in American society (as scholars like Putnam have argued), or is it due to racial factors? Hero sets out to answer these questions in this book.
Hero's basic premise is that the decline of social capital in America is due to existing "racist" social patterns being broken apart by increasing minority rights. This is in contrast to other scholars such as Robert Putnam (_Bowling Alone_) who attribute this phenomenon to increasing social disconnectedness and lament the moral decay of society. Hero uses statistics, graphs, and charts to make a scientific case for his point. This is perhaps the finest example of political _science_ that I have seen - in each chapter, Hero proposes a hypothesis, tests it with data and statistics, and discusses the results. He highlights data that do not support his hypothesis, but in the end he finds substantial empirical support for his "Racial Diversity" hypothesis and significant evident against Putnam's "Social Capital" hypothesis.
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state racial diversity, social capital thesis, high racial diversity, higher racial diversity, ascriptive inegalitarianism, civic culture indicator, social capital analyses, social capital claims, social capital studies, diversity thesis, social capital index, higher social capital, cash benefit levels, aggregate social capital, turnout ratios, welfare cash benefits, social capital arguments, minority diversity, black poverty rates, registration ratios, social capital states, state social capital, high social capital, social capital theorists, capita income ratios Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Bowling Alone, African American, North Dakota, South Dakota, Independent Variable Model, World War, Dependent Children, Native Americans, Supreme Court New!
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state racial diversity, social capital thesis, high racial diversity, higher racial diversity, ascriptive inegalitarianism, civic culture indicator, social capital analyses, social capital claims, social capital studies, diversity thesis, social capital index, higher social capital, cash benefit levels, aggregate social capital, turnout ratios, welfare cash benefits, social capital arguments, minority diversity, black poverty rates, registration ratios, social capital states, state social capital, high social capital, social capital theorists, capita income ratios Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Bowling Alone, African American, North Dakota, South Dakota, Independent Variable Model, World War, Dependent Children, Native Americans, Supreme Court New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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