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THINKING ABOUT ROBERT PUTNAM'S ANALYSIS OF DIVERSITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2009

Martin Kilson
Martin Kilson*
Affiliation:
Department of Government, Harvard University
*
Professor Martin Kilson, Department of Government, Harvard University, Knafel Hall – E304, Cambridge, MA 02138.
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Abstract

The article evaluates Robert Putnam's discussion of two differing concepts of the role of the diversity perspective toward inter-ethnic/inter-racial relationships in American society since the 1960s—namely, the “contact theory” and the “conflict theory.” The former was initially formulated by Harvard social psychologist Gordon Allport in The Nature of Prejudice (1954). Putnam's analysis—published in the comparative politics journal Scandinavian Political Studies (Vol. 30, No. 2, 2007)—favors the “conflict theory,” which holds that diversity sharpens “us-against-them” inter-ethnic/inter-racial interactions. Putnam's view opposes diversity-influenced public policies. By contrast, “contact theory” holds that diversity erodes “us-against-them” interactions and thus eventually democratizes such interactions, and thereby American society generally. “Contact theory” influenced the NAACP-led civil-rights movement's quest for desegregation public policies during the 1950s, 1960s, and onward.

Keywords

Robert PutnamContact TheoryConflict TheoryDesegregationDiversity
Type
STATE OF THE DISCIPLINE
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Fall 2009 , pp. 293 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research 2009

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