Relative deprivation and ‘the diversity effect’ in explaining neighbourhood attachment: Alternative or complementary mechanisms?

In a 2014 paper, we demonstrated that the negative relationship between ethnic diversity and neighbourhood attachment was moderated by interethnic ties differently for migrants and natives living in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. In this article, we respond to the Comment on our paper by Oded Stark, who proposes to interpret our findings within the framework of relative deprivation theory, and to explain the different results for migrants and natives by different preferences for diversity and resulting self-selection processes among the two groups. We argue that explaining the negative link between ethnic diversity and neighbourhood attachment by a distaste for relative deprivation is problematic given the intricacies of relationships between ethnic diversity, economic diversity, economic inequality and neighbourhood attachment. We note that employing the concept of relative deprivation in the analyses of ethnic diversity effects should acknowledge the role that interethnic ties play in the way natives and migrants define their reference groups. We also claim that preferences for diversity are unlikely to constitute a substantial basis for residential selection among migrants and natives, given the role of structural and socio-psychological factors in residential choices.