https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1076-2194
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ABSTRACT
This study examines the relationship between social capital and neighborhood diversity in Chilean cities. We propose that differences exist between hierarchical forms of diversity, which might erode social trust, and cultural differences that might foster new social links in heterogeneous communities. In Chile, strong material inequalities represent the main form of hierarchical differentiation, while south-to-south immigrants convey qualitative differences based on race, ethnic origin, or cultural practices. In contrast to most Western industrialized countries, where material and ethnic differences tend to converge, they appear to be uncoupled in Chile, explaining the presence of immigrants at different levels of the social hierarchy. We analyze original data from a Latin American country with high domestic inequality. Multilevel models nested at the city level reveal that social capital is negatively correlated with socioeconomic diversity, but positively correlated with immigrant diversity, suggesting that uncoupling these differences has a positive effect on social capital development.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Estimations by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) https://www.ine.cl/prensa/2019/09/16/seg%C3%BAn-estimaciones-la-cantidad-de-personas-extranjeras-residentes-habituales-en-chile-super%C3%B3-los-1-2-millones-al-31-de-diciembre-de-2018
2. The following description is based on the authors’ analysis of Census 2017 data.
3. Estimation based on authors’ analysis of Origin-Destination surveys.
4. Income information is usually less consistent, due to self-reporting errors and missing data.
5. Historical claims for autonomy and land restitution are manifest in rural Mapuche communities in the Araucanía region; these are not included in this study, which is based on an urban sample.
6. The dependent variable has a logarithmic transformation, so this percentage is calculated by exponentiation: exp(coefficient) – 1.
7. The sampling design of the ELSOC survey does not include immigrants, so we are not observing effects on foreigners’ networks.
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Notes on contributors
Matias Garreton
Matias Garreton has a PhD and MSc in Urban Planning. He is Professor and Research Director at the Design School and works in the Centre for Territorial Intelligence at Adolfo Ibanez University. He is also an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Conflict and Social Cohesion Studies (COES). His research interests include territorial inequalities, social conflict, urban criminology and critical political geography. He integrates these subjects from an interdisciplinary perspective, with emphasis on spatial quantitative analysis informed by qualitative research.
Vicente Espinoza
Vicente Espinoza has a PhD and MA in Sociology. He is Full Professor at Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Senior Researcher at its Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA) and Chairperson of its Master Program in Social Sciences. He is also an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Conflict and Social Cohesion Studies (COES). His research interests include social inequality, social mobility, social networks analysis and social cohesion. He has led several research projects in Chile, about socio-political transformations, social stratification, and social and power networks, among others.
Roberto Cantillan
Roberto Cantillan has a MSc in Social Sciences. He is a Faculty Member of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA) in the University of Santiago de Chile. His research is focused on social stratification patterns, investigating the relationship between the composition of personal networks and behaviors of cooperation and collective action in Chile today, using mixed methods and multilevel analysis.