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The contributors to the Superdiversity book symposium welcome the myriad ways that scholars from a variety of research fields and social scientific disciplines have adopted the concept across varying scales, sites and social phenomena. Each writer nevertheless stresses the need to place any application of the term, descriptively or analytically, within specific social, political and historical contexts. Superdiversity appears very different depending upon an array of conditions – hence we observe a variety of context-dependent superdiversities. This point holds too for categories – especially ones drawn from colonial histories – that comprise differing configurations of superdiversity. These are also highly contextual. It is suggested that the superdiversity concept helps us to "unsee" purportedly fixed, uni-dimensional categories like ethnicity and to place more emphasis on multiple, intersectional combinations of categories. The re-thinking of categories and their contexts might also help us imagine possible superdiversity futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly diversifying societies, rising inequalities and the increasing significance of social differences are concurrent processes calling for a reexamination and reworking of certain conceptual and theoretical tools within the social sciences. Here, bringing together a range of theories and findings from various disciplines, a conceptual model is offered to facilitate analyses of such intertwined social processes. The model highlights mutually conditioning relationships between the fundamental conceptual domains of: social structures (here described as configurations), social categories (or representations) and social interactions (or encounters). The connections between these domains produce and reproduce, differentially in distinct times, scales and contexts, what can be called "the social organization of difference". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread worries that the health crisis is resulting in generalized hostility towards minorities and reduced support for a diverse society. Relying on a large survey of diversity attitudes in Germany fielded before and during the pandemic, we employ a quasi-experimental design to evaluate whether such a trend has occurred among the general public. Past work suggests two competing expectations – one anticipating a rise in hostility grounded in threat theories, and one anticipating stability grounded in public opinion research and theories of longer-term value change. Empirical results reveal generally high assent to socio-demographic diversity and minority accommodation, and remarkable stability during the pandemic period. Additionally, survey vignettes show strong and equally stable anti-discrimination norms that are inclusive of Asian-origin populations. Overall, results suggest that surges in racist incidents during the pandemic do not reflect analogous surges in hostility within the population at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of super-diversity has been widely evoked - sometimes in highly misleading ways. Based on a survey of 325 publications across multiple disciplines, this special issue endword piece presents a typology of ways of understanding super-diversity. This includes addressing super-diversity as: a contemporary synonym of diversity, a backdrop for a study, a call for methodological reassessment, a way of simply talking about more ethnicity, a multidimensional reconfiguration of social forms, a call to move beyond ethnicity, and a device for drawing attention to new social complexities. Indeed, I believe the latter - the search for better ways to describe and analyze new social patterns, forms and identities arising from migration-driven diversification - is perhaps the most driving reason for expanding interests and uses, however varied, surrounding the concept of super-diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on Suzi Hall's commentary on his article on the migration milieu. Topics covered include the argument of Hall that the notion of super-diversity should be explicitly related to the structures and processes of power and inequality conditioned by a worsening migration milieu, the multiple discriminations resulting from the regulation of movement across borders, and the opportunities, restrictions and consequences for migrants and asylum-seeker set by these policies.

Reflecting a broadening interest in finding new ways to talk about contemporary social complexity, the concept of ‘super-diversity’ has received considerable attention since it was introduced in this journal in 2007. Many utilizing the term have referred only to ‘more ethnicities’ rather than to the term's fuller, original intention of recognizing multidimensional shifts in migration patterns. These entail a worldwide diversification of migration channels, differentiations of legal statuses, diverging patterns of gender and age, and variance in migrants' human capital. In this special issue ofEthnic and Racial Studies, the concept is subject to two modes of comparison: (1) side-by-side studies contrasting different places and emergent conditions of super-diversity; and (2) juxtaposed arguments that have differentially found use in utilizing or criticizing super-diversity descriptively, methodologically or with reference to policy and public practice. The contributions discuss super-diversity and its implications in nine cities located in eight countries and four continents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we advocate the study of local street markets to explore fundamental issues about the relationship between economy and society. This relationship evolves over time and we believe that it has been recast in an age of increasing cultural diversity and neo-liberal state regulatory structures. In street markets we can see how diversity and the nature of economic transactions become mutually constitutive. We argue that cultural diversity propels local markets, while everyday interactions in markets influence intercultural relationships. These complex processes are affected by the spatiality of markets and the regulatory environments within which they operate. We conclude by framing a research programme on street markets and discuss a number of methodological complications that would need to be addressed in this endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the relationship between neighbourhood diversity, various forms of intergroup contact and trust in a sample of native Germans clustered in 50 neighbourhoods in several German cities. The authors argue that the consideration and direct measurement of intergroup contact is essential for fully comprehending the consequences of rising ethno-cultural diversity in Western democracies. Our results show that neighbourhood immigration-related diversity in itself does not exert the same negative effects on generalized and outgroup trust as found in the North American context. Instead, intergroup contact moderates the effects of neighbourhood diversity. The results add to our understanding of the different socio-political consequences of immigration-related diversity and immigrant contact in social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is a kind of boom time for the anthropology of migration. Anthropologists are currently studying a wide range of migration-related topics. Many of them, of course, are not entirely new: anthropologists have been researching migration dynamics and impacts since at least the 1930s (most notably within the Manchester School of anthropology). Since the 1970s the discipline's burgeoning interest in ethnicity has largely entailed research on post-migration communities. Since the 1990s, migrant transnationalism has become one of the most fashionable topics. There is still much to do in research and theory around migration, not least with regard to public debates around multiculturalism. This introduction suggests a number of possible new directions for anthropological inquiry into migration and multiculturalism, and summarizes the special issue's contributing articles in light of their contributions toward moving the discipline in these directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity in Britain is not what it used to be. Some thirty years of government policies, social service practices and public perceptions have been framed by a particular understanding of immigration and multicultural diversity. That is, Britain's immigrant and ethnic minority population has conventionally been characterized by large, well-organized African-Caribbean and South Asian communities of citizens originally from Commonwealth countries or formerly colonial territories. Policy frameworks and public understanding - and, indeed, many areas of social science - have not caught up with recently emergent demographic and social patterns. Britain can now be characterized by 'super-diversity,' a notion intended to underline a level and kind of complexity surpassing anything the country has previously experienced. Such a condition is distinguished by a dynamic interplay of variables among an increased number of new, small and scattered, multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socio-economically differentiated and legally stratified immigrants who have arrived over the last decade. Outlined here, new patterns of super-diversity pose significant challenges for both policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnationalism and identity are concepts that inherently call for juxtaposition. This is so because many peoples' transnational networks of exchange and participation are grounded upon some perception of common identity; conversely, the identities of numerous individuals and groups of people are negotiated within social worlds that span more than one place. In this introductory article, the transnational perspective on migration studies is first discussed, followed by some critiques and outstanding questions. The final section summarises points raised by the contributing authors of the main articles in this themed issue of JEMS, especially with regard to various ways transnational settings and dynamics affect the construction, negotiation and reproduction of identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of recent research across several disciplines not surprisingly finds a wide variety of descriptions surrounding meanings, processes, scales and methods concerning the notion of 'transnationalism'. Here, several clusters or themes are suggested by way of disentangling the term. These include transnationalism as a social morphology, as a type of consciousness, as a mode of cultural reproduction, as an avenue of capital, as a site of political engagement, and as a reconstruction of 'place' or locality. These and other approaches to transnationalism are being explored in a newly commissioned ESRC research programme on Transnational Communities (see http:// www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Although 'multiculturalism' is a terra increasingly employed in social science and in the public sphere, there is a dearth of comparative research and a lack of detailed studies showing the complexity of social groups, the variety of their forms of organization, and their emergent forms of interaction or interface with local government which the terra 'multiculturalism' should ideally entail. Here, set in the context of the British East Midlands city of Leicester, an examination of the makeup, socio-economic position, organizational structure, and nature of government interface surrounding one minority segment is provided to indicate such complexity anti variety and to submit material for further comparative study. Numerous layered and cross-cutting backgrounds, identities, and mobilized groups among Asians are described, as are several significant modes and processes of interaction and political representation, particularly among Muslim citizens. In highlighting the activities of certain individuals, association and umbrella groups representing minorities, together with programmes and undertakings initiated by local government, the importance of minorities having multiple points of interface is stressed by way of proposing more progressive models of multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the name of 'muIticulturalism', western societies have witnessed since the 1980s a proliferation of discourses concerning the general place of minorities, programmes designed to foster equality, institutional structures created to provide better social services, and resources extended to ethnic minority organizations. Despite much goodwill and not inconsiderable evidence of progress in local and national initiatives concerning minorities, however, such developments have often in effect excluded minorities from, rather than facilities their engagement with, the majority public domain. In significant ways this has been because many public policies and Wider political discourses surrounding multiculturalism tend to employ ill-defined ideas and implicit notions - particularly regarding `culture' which, when operationalized, function socially and politically to separate and distance members of given minorities. These `culturalist' underpinnings found in a variety of multi-culturalist initiatives can be seen to echo or to parallel views espoused in the so-called new cultural racism'. Examples on the level of local government authorities in Britain are cited. Clearly, initiatives promoting all forms of equality for minorities must encouraged while culturalism'-in-multi-culturalism must be overcome. Instead of attempting to redefine `culture for policy-makers, the author suggests that in rethinking and restructuring modes of public incorporation affecting minorities (roughly following certain key ideas of M.G. Smith on plural societies, John Rex and Bhikhu Parekh on the public domain), we may be able to begin to move beyond some currently exclusive and divisive aspects of institutionalized multiculturalism. Certain modes of local government interface in the British city of Leicester which have been co-developed by local government authorities, by a complex range of local Islamic Organizations, by a uniquely successful Muslim representative federation, and by prominent Muslim individuals are examined by way of suggesting one new model of public incorporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on ethnic ideologies with particular reference to the Hindu youth movement in Trinidad. Ethnic ideologies are selective reflections on the past, present and future plights of a community, which arise at certain historical junctures and are characterized by rapid social change. Religious concepts play a pivotal role in ethnic ideologies. The formation of ethnic ideologies creates a conceptual order by establishing a set of references for group members. In the case study of the development of ethnic ideology among Hindus in Trinidad, Hindus have been modifying their beliefs and practices to suit local conditions, the result being congregational bhakti-centred Vaishnavism focused on popular scriptures. This trend arose through the necessity of finding a common method of worship for migrants of diverse nature. The sectarian controversies stirred in the 1920's by the Arya Samaj, led to greater institutionalization of Hinduism. The Hindus demanded for equal social status in the 1970's following rapid socio-economic changes accompanying the oil boom. The Hindu youth movement proselytized elements of Hindu ideology and renewed the appreciation of religious practices and Hindu ideals of domestic life. The ideology advocated by the Hindu group Seva Sangh emphasized collective attributes, actions and personal religious sentiments. Religion is therefore a fundamental factor in ethnic development.

As post‐reunification Berlin rebuilds as the capital of Germany, as one powerbase in a federal Europe, as a gateway to Eastern Europe and as, in many respects, a global city, a number of important public initiatives have emerged by way of what can be called ‐ rightly or wrongly ‐ multi‐culturalism. Many such initiatives have gained particular urgency following the events in Solingen and Mölln, seeking not only to oppose racism, but to encourage greater general acceptance of new flows of people and cultural phenomena. Within a total population of 3.5 million persons in Berlin, so‐called foreigners’ (Ausländer) account for 12 per cent or over 406,600. This article concerns initiatives of three major bodies concerned with the representation of foreigners’ or ethnic minorities in the public sphere in Berlin. Initiatives by the Commissioner for Foreigners’ Affairs (Ausländerbeauftragte), the Workshop of Cultures (Werkstatt der Kulturen), and the new public broadcasting station ‘SFB4 Radio Multikulti’ are examined and discussed in light of how they seek to alter the representation of ethnic minorities in public space, to dispose of a range of common terms concerning such minorities ‐ including Ausländer (foreigners'), Gastarbeiter ('guest‐workers'), Zuwanderer ('migrants'), hierlebende Nichtdeutsche ('here‐living‐non‐Germans'), to deconstruct the idea of ‘German‐ness’ itself, and to develop a widespread sense of Weltoffenheit ('liberal mindedness/cosmopolitanism’ or, literally translated, ‘world‐openness'). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Temples are often usefully described as being of intrinsic social and cultural, as well as religious, value to Hindus in Britain. However, generalisations about the role of Hindu temples as ‘community centres’ may obscure fundamental differences between a variety of Hindu groups who are characterised by contrasting regional backgrounds, religious orientations, and histories of migration, settlement, and community development. Here, three temples in London (predominantly Gujarati in Balham, Punjabi in Southall, and Indo‐Caribbean in Brixton) are compared in terms of patterns of use and the ways these reflect the nature of the local Hindu population. It is demonstrated that the ‘community’ use of Hindu temples in London, including the degree to which this use is ‘congregational’, is marked by at least three divergent trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent evidence suggests that in many European countries generally positive views about societal diversity predominate. Yet, as research has rather focussed on negative attitudes towards immigration and diversity, less is known about positive attitudes and those who hold them. The paper makes a conceptual and an empirical contribution to filling this gap. We introduce a multidimensional concept, “diversity assent”, to capture both evaluations of diversity and attitudes towards reflecting diversity in societal institutions. We test the concept using the case of urban Germany, drawing from a large, purpose-built survey. We demonstrate that, while assent differs for the two dimensions, a sizeable majority of those who evaluate diversity positively also agree with representing diversity in official policy and institutions, with some differences along socio-political lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]