TY - JOUR

T1 - Inter-Ethnic Neighbourhood Acquaintances of Migrants and Natives in Germany

T2 - On the Brokering Roles of Inter-Ethnic Partners and Children

AU - Schaeffer, Merlin

PY - 2013/9/1

Y1 - 2013/9/1

N2 - Social scientists have long emphasised the importance of personal inter-ethnic contact for overcoming prejudices and enhancing social cohesion in mixed societies. But why do some people have more contact with their neighbours of other ethnicity? Using new data from a large-scale German survey, I analyse the brokering roles of children and inter-ethnic partners in explaining inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances. Even on a contextual level, my results suggest that people living in regions with larger shares of children have more inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances, which expands earlier findings on the general integrating function of children. However, I also argue that we should recognise brokering to be context-specific and exemplify this by showing how the brokering role of inter-ethnic partners is evident particularly in interaction with inter-ethnic encounters at local bars and restaurants, while that of children is evident particularly given their frequent inter-ethnic encounters in public parks and playgrounds. On a theoretical level, my results demonstrate the importance of studying the interaction of mechanisms in explaining personal (inter-ethnic) contact.

AB - Social scientists have long emphasised the importance of personal inter-ethnic contact for overcoming prejudices and enhancing social cohesion in mixed societies. But why do some people have more contact with their neighbours of other ethnicity? Using new data from a large-scale German survey, I analyse the brokering roles of children and inter-ethnic partners in explaining inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances. Even on a contextual level, my results suggest that people living in regions with larger shares of children have more inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances, which expands earlier findings on the general integrating function of children. However, I also argue that we should recognise brokering to be context-specific and exemplify this by showing how the brokering role of inter-ethnic partners is evident particularly in interaction with inter-ethnic encounters at local bars and restaurants, while that of children is evident particularly given their frequent inter-ethnic encounters in public parks and playgrounds. On a theoretical level, my results demonstrate the importance of studying the interaction of mechanisms in explaining personal (inter-ethnic) contact.

KW - Brokering

KW - Ethnic Diversity

KW - Inter-Ethnic Contact

KW - Neighbourhood

KW - Networks

KW - Weak Ties

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882274936&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.778147

DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2013.778147

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84882274936

VL - 39

SP - 1219

EP - 1240

JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

SN - 1369-183X

IS - 8

ER -