Heterogeneity, Consolidation, and Intergroup Relations

Abstract

The present study uses data from the first wave of an ongoing panel survey study to test some hypotheses derived from Peter M. Blau's macrostructural theory of social integration. More specifically, the tests reported in this article focus on the effects of heterogeneity on the rate of intergroup relations. According to Blau, an increase in heterogeneity contributes to an increase in social integration as measured by the rate of intergroup relations, so the more a community is differentiated by gender, the more male-female friendships there are. Blau also predicted that the effect of heterogeneity is weakened when differences along multiple lines overlap, so when gender is correlated with occupation and friends are chosen with respect to gender, there are fewer friendships between members of different occupations than there would be if gender and occupation were independent. I test these predictions against the data from the Polish Panel Survey POL PAN; its first wave was carried out in 1988 on a random and nationwide sample of 5,817 people ages twenty-one to sixty-five. The tests reported in this study use a version of Blau's theory developed by Thomas J. Fararo and John Skvoretz, who translated the original theory into a mathematical equation. The results of the tests raise doubts as to whether the theory is an accurate description of the relationship between social differentiation and integration. More specifically, the rates of marital and friendship ties with respect to several dimensions of differentiation—such as education or occupation—turn out not to be predicted adequately by the models developed by Fararo and Skvoretz.