IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/oxecpp/v73y2021i3p1324-1344..html

Social diversity and bridging identity

Author

Listed:
  • María D. C García-Alonso
  • Zaki Wahhaj

Abstract

We investigate within a model of cultural transmission how policies or shocks that affect social diversity within a population affect social cohesion and segregation. We develop the concept of ‘bridging identity’, an individual trait that (i) positively affects utility in culturally diverse social groups but is immaterial in homogeneous groups and (ii) is fostered in those born in culturally diverse social groups but not in those born in homogeneous groups. We show that medium levels of immigration lead to higher bridging identity in the population; and, for a given immigration target, social segregation is decreasing in the time allowed for achieving this target. If the level and pace of immigration are attuned to existing levels of bridging identity, it is possible to sustain, for the long run, social groups that are culturally diverse. This contrasts with Schelling’s models of residential segregation that typically lead to increasing segregation over time.

Suggested Citation

  • María D. C García-Alonso & Zaki Wahhaj, 2021. "Social diversity and bridging identity," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 1324-1344.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:73:y:2021:i:3:p:1324-1344.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpaa053
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shanahan, Tyler & Tran, Trang P. & Taylor, Erik C., 2019. "Getting to know you: Social media personalization as a means of enhancing brand loyalty and perceived quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 57-65.
    2. Tatarnikova, Olga & Duchêne, Sébastien & Sentis, Patrick & Willinger, Marc, 2023. "Portfolio instability and socially responsible investment: Experiments with financial professionals and students," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Levy, Gilat & Razin, Ronny, 2019. "Echo chambers and their effects on economic and political outcomes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101413, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Seo, Jinhee & Sung, Yoon Hi & Yoon, Doyle, 2024. "“It doesn't bother me that much”: The congruence effect of product types and ad appeals on the effectiveness of sponsored ads on Instagram," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Asri, Viola, 2019. "Targeting of social transfers: Are India’s poor older people left behind?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 46-63.
    6. Adhikari, Anindita & Heller, Patrick, 2024. "Civil society, the state and institutionalizing welfare rights in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    7. Bottan, Daria & McKee, Douglas & Orlov, George & McDougall, Anna, 2022. "Racial and gender achievement gaps in an economics classroom," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    8. Bohnet, Iris & Hauser, Oliver P. & Kristal, Ariella S., 2025. "Can gender and race dynamics in performance appraisals be disrupted? The case of social influence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    9. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:special4:p:837-848 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:73:y:2021:i:3:p:1324-1344.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/oep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.