Social Cohesion and Intergroup Relations

Attitudes toward Highly Skilled and Low-skilled Immigration: Evidence from a Survey Experiment,
American Political Science Review, February, 2010, 24 pp.
Based on a survey sample of 2,285 American citizens, conducted in late 2007 and early 2008, this article questions the common assumption that concerns about labor market competition and immigrant utilization of public services motivate anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. Instead, the researchers found a strong preference for highly skilled immigrants, even among highly-skilled native-born people, who might find themselves competing with such immigrants. This is one of the first empirical studies to analyze American public attitudes towards different types of immigrants. As such, it lends support to explanations "emphasizing noneconomic concerns associated with ethnocentrism or sociotropic considerations."

Climate of Fear: Latino Immigrants in Suffolk County, N.Y.,
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), September, 2009, 28 pp
This report provides a detailed account of the development of anti-immigrant sentiment and violence in Suffolk County, NY, from 1999 to 2009, placing particular emphasis on the "angry demagoguery" of local politicians, the activity of anti-immigrant groups such as Sachem Quality of Life, and the shortcomings of the Suffolk County Police Department. The SPLC, best known for its battles against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s, tracks the activities of hate groups in the United States. The report is based on interviews with more than 70 Latino immigrants and scores of local community leaders.

Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America,
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, 2009, 50 pp.

While hate crimes in recent years have declined or leveled off for most groups, crimes against Hispanic immigrants and gays have increased. This report lays the blame for this rise on the "toxic environment" created by anti-immigrant talk radio hosts such as Michael Savage and cable TV personalities such as CNN's Lou Dobbs and gives examples of inflammatory speech from their programs. The report also faults three "seemingly legitimate" restrictionist organizations: the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA -- "part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the 'puppeteer' of the nativist movement." According to the report, these organizations have "inflamed the immigration debate by invoking the dehumanizing, racist stereotypes and bigotry of hate groups." Yet, they are often given a platform by members of Congress to testify at hearings and cited as authoritative sources by the media. The report also notes a proliferation of hate groups since 2000, operating with increasing sophistication and making ample use of new social media to advance their cause. The report makes several recommendations to combat the threat of hate crimes, including passage of a strengthened federal hate crime law.

Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South, Southern Poverty Law Center, April, 2009, 64 pp.
Based on a survey of 500 Latino immigrants in Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, rural south Georgia, and several towns in northern Alabama, this report was designed to "take the pulse of the Latino community in the South." Among the key findings are the following: 41% of respondents have experienced wage theft, and 80% lack any knowledge of government agencies able to help out in these situations; more than 50% "lack confidence in the police;" 47% know someone treated unfairly by the police, with police checkpoints an especially common complaint; and 77% of Latino women have experienced sexual harassment on the job, often perpetrated by employers threatening to report women to ICE if they refuse their advances. The report concludes with a series of policy recommendations to the federal government to combat the growing menace of "racial profiling" aimed at Latinos.
http://www.splcenter.org/legal/undersiege/UnderSiege.pdf

Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Community, Diversity Dialogue Task Force Report, Arlington County, Virginia, January, 2009, 8 pp.During 2008, Arlington County conducted a series of three "diversity dialogues" attracting nearly 500 community members. Using the "World Café" approach and with help from staff at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, the dialogues explored topics such as race relations and immigration. Participants developed a series of recommendations designed to create a more inclusive community. The County also set up a website about the program.
http://www.arlingtonva.us/Portals/Topics/documents/page68243.pdf

Neighbourhood Task Forces: A Tool for Dealing with Conflict in Communities, The Young Foundation (London, UK), October, 2008, 40 pp.
The Young Foundation is an important catalyst for social entrepreneurship and "open" community development in the United Kingdom and internationally. In this report and "toolkit," the Foundation details its task force model for addressing community tensions in two London neighborhoods experiencing demographic change caused by immigration and internal migration. The Foundation considers the model a "relatively cheap and simple" approach to the challenge of "build(ing) the capacity of local people to work together on their own solutions" to community problems.
http://www.youngfoundation.org.uk/files/images/neighbourhood_taskforces_web.pdf

Immigrants Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves into the Mainstream, Anti-Defamation League, 2007, 12 pp.
This report documents the use of stereotypes and outright bigotry by "groups that have positioned themselves as legitimate, mainstream advocates against illegal immigration in America." Seven groups, along with leading media figures and politicians, are profiled in the report.
http://www.adl.org/civil_rights/anti_immigrant/print_version.pdf

Integration and Cohesion Case Studies, Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Department of Communities and Local Government (United Kingdom), 2007, 226 pp.
In the aftermath of the July 7, 2007, London public transportation bombings, a Commission on Integration and Social Cohesion was set up to "consider how local areas can make the most of diversity while being able to respond to the tensions it may cause." In addition to its final report, the Commission produced this compendium of best practices throughout the United Kingdom. More than 100 different projects are profiled in this document.
http://www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/upload/assets/www.
integrationandcohesion.org.uk/integration_and_cohesion_case_studies.pdf

Ash Amin, Thinking Past Integration and Community Cohesion, Paper presented at the 2007 COMPAS Annual Conference, Oxford University, July 5-6, 2007, 8 pp.
In this creative and thought-provoking piece, a leading English economic geographer argues the importance of "recovering the commons" as the physical space where "cultural and civic formation" takes place in our multicultural world. Places like parks, markets, squares, gardens can promote an image of the city as "plural, for the many, for the idiosyncratic and ill-conforming, but always in the spirit of revealing the ties that bind."
http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/events/AnnConf07-papers/Ash%20Amin%20paper.pdf

E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century, Robert D. Putnam, Scandinavian Political Studies, June 15, 2007, 37 pp.

This controversial essay, written by Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone and other books and essays on civic engagement in America, examines the connections between immigration and civic participation. This is how Putnam abstracts the essay: "Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits. In the short run, however, immigration and ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New evidence from the US suggests that in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods residents of all races tend to 'hunker down'. Trust (even of one's own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer. In the long run, however, successful immigrant societies have overcome such fragmentation by creating new, cross-cutting forms of social solidarity and more encompassing identities. Illustrations of becoming comfortable with diversity are drawn from the US military, religious institutions, and earlier waves of American immigration."
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118510920/HTMLSTART

Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations Program, Association for the Study and Development of Community, July, 2002, 17 pp, September, 2000,
7 pp.
These two reports discuss a major initiative to support intergroup relationship building among immigrants and established residents in six areas of the United States. The Charlest Stewart Mott Foundation and the Ford Foundation partnered with six community foundations to invest $5.1 million to develop innovative neighborhood and community projects "to improve race and ethnic relations between recent immigrants and long-time residents." The first report (http://www.capablecommunity.com/pubs/CFIR092000.PDF
provides guidance to community foundations in setting up intergroup initiatives. The second report (http://www.capablecommunity.com/pubs/CFIR072002.PDF) discusses general principles for designing effective intergroup relations programs, provides an analytical tool for assessing the quality of existing intergroup relations, and gives some examples of successful projects.

Initiative to Strengthen Neighborhood Inter-Group Assets: Summary of Accomplishments and Lessons Learned, 1998-2000, Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, February, 2001, 12 pp.
This report discusses a major intergroup initiative in the Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia which distributed over $800,000 in funding to 46 inter-group projects. The initiative promoted the development of learning community consisting of grantees, funders, and consultants who met on a regular basis to share experiences and review results. The report gives examples of specific projects and summarizes lessons learned.
http://www.capablecommunity.com/pubs/IR022001.pdf

Together in our Differences: How Newcomers and Established Residents are Rebuilding America's Communities, Findings from the Community Innovations Project, National Immigration Forum, January, 1995, 95 pp.
This report spotlights community programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York City that eased tensions between immigrant groups and established residents by engaging them to solve problems of mutual concern. Among the 16 projects discussed in the report are: the creation of a community credit union, a tenant organizing project, and the formation of a coalition to promote adult education. Available for purchase at:
http://immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=280

Changing Relations: Newcomers and Established Residents in U.S. Communities, Ford Foundation, 1993, 79 pp.
This report presents the results of a study conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers investigating the relationships and everyday interactions among recent immigrants and longer-term residents in six U.S. communities. The sites include big-city neighborhoods in Chicago, Houston, Miami, and Philadelphia as well as suburban Monterey Park, California, and rural Garden City, Kansas. The study applied ethnographic research methods to an analysis of the ways long-time residents and newcomers of widely different cultures and backgrounds relate to each other. The studies' goal was to provide a detailed description of the full range of relations between immigrants and established residents including interactions producing conflict or accommodation. The researchers conclude by stressing the importance of economic restructuring, class and gender, geographic settlement, language barriers, racial stratification, and the role of community control in interactions between newcomers and established residents.
http://www.fordfound.org/elibrary/documents/0133/toc.cfm