Diversity, Values and Social Cohesion

Increasingly, immigration gives rise to ethnic diversity in liberal democracies. One worry about diversity, which plays an important role in both academic and public debates, is whether diversity tends to drive down social cohesion and therefore the basis for well-functioning democratic institutions and egalitarian welfare states. In response to such worries about immigration, states tend to emphasize national identities and shared values as a basis for social cohesion and to engage in various forms of nation-building. But what, exactly, is the relation between national values, shared values and various aspects of social cohesion? Do shared values somehow facilitate identification and hence, for example, trust and solidarity? What roles do in-group bias and out-group prejudice play in societies characterized by diversity? How, more generally, is social cohesion created and maintained in diverse societies? And what forms of difference can and should be accommodated in liberal democracies?

Programme:

10.00-11.15 Bo Rothstein (Gothenburg University), "Regions of trust and distrust: how good institutions can foster social cohesion"
Discussant: Kristian Kongshøj (University of Aalborg)

11.15-11-30 Break

11.30-12.45 Andrew Mason (University of Warwick), "Faith schools and the cultivation of tolerance"
Discussant: Nils Holtug (University of Copenhagen)

12.45-13.45 Lunch

13.45-15.00 John Dovidio (Yale University), "Included But Invisible? The Intergroup Consequences of the Acculturation Preferences of Members of the Host Society and Immigrant Groups"
Discussant: Bjørn Hallson (University of Copenhagen)