“The Downside of Diversity?” (Mini-salon on August 25th, 2007)

Date: August 25th, 2007
Time: 5:00 – 7:00pm

Diversity of race, religion and creed is always a touchy political subject, often cherished by liberals and disregarded by conservatives, but a recent study may have thrown its value into question. The data gathered by the Harvard social scientist Robert Putnam, an author famous in the popular press for his study of civic engagement in “Bowling Alone,” has come to the semi-heretical finding that diversity actually hurts civic engagement. Put simply: the more diverse your society, the less the citizens will bother with public life. You can read more details in the Boston Globe: http://tinyurl.com/289bog. Can Putnam be right? What examples do we see around the world that support or refute his findings? If he is right, what would be the implications for liberalism? Come to the mini-salon to discuss these among many other questions that Putnam’s work brings to the surface.

Selected Readings:

• Overview of the subject from the Boston Globe Ideas section
• Appropriation of Putnam’s work by those advocating a dramatic curb in immigration
• Perspective from the British left-leaning paper The Guardian
• An SF Perspective (from 2001) from the San Francisco Chronicle
• Two sections of his published work, first Putnam’s acknowledgment of the benefits of immigration and diversity, second his recommendations prefaced with historical precedent.