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What arguments are those, exactly? What's the significance of a smaller population or homogeneity? Has any such relation been rigorously studied, or is it just

What arguments are those, exactly? What's the significance of a smaller population or homogeneity? Has any such relation been rigorously studied, or is it just speculation?

Spooky23 9y ago
Culture drives attitude and perception. People who look, worship (or not), work and have other things alike then to cluster together and have a sort of herd mentality. In a place like the US, we have dramatically different groups of people all over the place. In Norway or Denmark, the differences are nonexistent to an American eye.
- Max-q 9y ago
  >In Norway or Denmark, the differences are nonexistent to an American eye. In Oslo, capital of Norway, 32% of the population are immigrants.
  - rayiner 9y ago
    And half of those are Europeans (often other Scandinavians). In contrast, in D.C., the capital of the United States, 52% of the population is of a racial minority that (overwhelmingly) is in the U.S. only because white Americans brought their ancestors over from Africa in slavery.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
lvh 9y ago
Sure: here's a recent longitudinal study[0] that covers some of the previous work on correlation between diversity and social cohesion. [0]: https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv081 https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv081
jeromegv 9y ago
Americans always tend to use homogeneity as an argument when they compare themselves with other countries, like it’s somehow a good argument not to be as good as other countries in some aspects. Like you, I doubt that this is actually relevant. Canada is nothing but diverse, in a very similar way to the US and somehow it’s never used an excuse.
- lvh 9y ago
  Are you suggesting that it's not mostly accepted, sociologically, that ethnic diversity is correlated negatively with social cohesion? That was not my understanding. Do you have a citation that suggests otherwise? [0]: https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/32/1/54/2404332 https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/32/1/54/2404332
- muninn_ 9y ago
  Intuitively do you believe it's easier to govern a group of people with very different opinions and very different backgrounds and socioeconomic status, or easier?
- alphamonster 9y ago
  Canada is much less (racially) diverse than the U.S.: 89% white and the largest minority group as asian with 6.7% versus the U.S. 66% white and 14.7% hispanic as the largest minority group. source: data compiled from census reports https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.mx/2011/03/us-vs-canada-comparing-apples-to-apples.html#.WpGK_uaVvRY https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.mx/2011/03/us-vs-cana...
- rayiner 9y ago
  > Canada is nothing but diverse, in a very similar way to the US and somehow it’s never used an excuse. Less than 20% of Canada is a "visible minority." In the U.S., it's almost 40%. Toronto recently became a majority minority city. Washington, D.C. became a majority minority city sometime in the 1950s. In Chicago, it was sometime in the 1980s. Canada has no majority-minority provinces. Ontario is still 67% European (roughly on par with Connecticut). Our two largest states, California and Texas, are both majority-minority states. Recency matters too. Much of Canada's diversity is very recent. American politics has in contrast been shaped by these conflicts for decades (really, from inception--we fought a whole civil war over race!).

What arguments are those, exactly? What's the significance of a smaller population or homogeneity? Has any such relation been rigorously studied, or is it just speculation?

Spooky23 9y ago

Culture drives attitude and perception. People who look, worship (or not), work and have other things alike then to cluster together and have a sort of herd mentality. In a place like the US, we have dramatically different groups of people all over the place. In Norway or Denmark, the differences are nonexistent to an American eye.

Max-q 9y ago
>In Norway or Denmark, the differences are nonexistent to an American eye. In Oslo, capital of Norway, 32% of the population are immigrants.
- rayiner 9y ago
  And half of those are Europeans (often other Scandinavians). In contrast, in D.C., the capital of the United States, 52% of the population is of a racial minority that (overwhelmingly) is in the U.S. only because white Americans brought their ancestors over from Africa in slavery.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

lvh 9y ago

Sure: here's a recent longitudinal study[0] that covers some of the previous work on correlation between diversity and social cohesion. [0]: https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv081 https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv081

jeromegv 9y ago

Americans always tend to use homogeneity as an argument when they compare themselves with other countries, like it’s somehow a good argument not to be as good as other countries in some aspects. Like you, I doubt that this is actually relevant. Canada is nothing but diverse, in a very similar way to the US and somehow it’s never used an excuse.

lvh 9y ago
Are you suggesting that it's not mostly accepted, sociologically, that ethnic diversity is correlated negatively with social cohesion? That was not my understanding. Do you have a citation that suggests otherwise? [0]: https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/32/1/54/2404332 https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/32/1/54/2404332
muninn_ 9y ago
Intuitively do you believe it's easier to govern a group of people with very different opinions and very different backgrounds and socioeconomic status, or easier?
alphamonster 9y ago
Canada is much less (racially) diverse than the U.S.: 89% white and the largest minority group as asian with 6.7% versus the U.S. 66% white and 14.7% hispanic as the largest minority group. source: data compiled from census reports https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.mx/2011/03/us-vs-canada-comparing-apples-to-apples.html#.WpGK_uaVvRY https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.mx/2011/03/us-vs-cana...
rayiner 9y ago
> Canada is nothing but diverse, in a very similar way to the US and somehow it’s never used an excuse. Less than 20% of Canada is a "visible minority." In the U.S., it's almost 40%. Toronto recently became a majority minority city. Washington, D.C. became a majority minority city sometime in the 1950s. In Chicago, it was sometime in the 1980s. Canada has no majority-minority provinces. Ontario is still 67% European (roughly on par with Connecticut). Our two largest states, California and Texas, are both majority-minority states. Recency matters too. Much of Canada's diversity is very recent. American politics has in contrast been shaped by these conflicts for decades (really, from inception--we fought a whole civil war over race!).