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Since Putnam introduced his constrict thesis in 2007, many researchers have established that ethnic diversity lowers perceptions of social cohesion, at least in the short term. The connection between ethnic diversity and social behavior, however, is less certain. In this paper we draw on social distance and social identity theories to empirically test if ethnic diversity encourages behaviors linked to social withdrawal. Using data from a longitudinal panel study of urban communities in Australia, we examine the influence of social distance on neighborhood ties, neighborly exchange, and civic engagement and assess if an individual’s social identity (ethnic or civic) strengthens or weakens these relationships. We find individuals that endorse an ethnic identity are more likely to engage in social withdrawal behaviors. Withdrawal is also more likely in neighborhoods where individuals distort the presence of minorities.

Visa policies and pathways are increasingly driving international migration to Australia's regional and rural centres. Often embedded within a multicultural imaginary, notions of friendliness and neighbourliness are instilled in the 'small town' narratives of these regional cities. However, little is known about whether this friendliness translates to the formation of deeper, meaningful connections that create the conditions for a sense of belonging to emerge. Drawing on empirical data from two regional cities across Queensland, this research investigates the challenges and barriers to forming friendships between migrant communities and 'local' Australian residents. We explore how co-ethnic relationships, while significant, do not always benefit and bolster migrants' sense of belonging in the regions. Instead, we argue that inter-ethnic friendships with other migrant communities offer pathways to belonging in regional contexts. In doing so, we challenge prevalent assumptions regarding the inherent value of co-ethnic ties and the tensions so often raised within inter-ethnic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamophobia is a global problem that has reached epidemic proportions according to recent government reports and international research. In this preregistered, randomized control study, conducted in a field setting in Australia (N = 227), we investigated whether Islamophobia—negative and hostile attitudes toward Islam and Muslim people—was reduced by a short door-to-door canvassing intervention. Our study involved participants who had expressed negative or ambivalent attitudes toward Muslim residents in a previous survey. These participants were randomly assigned to receive either no treatment or a 15-minute door-knocking conversation that encouraged empathy building through (1) active processing of new information and (2) perspective taking through personal reflections on past experiences of exclusion. Follow-up surveys suggest that, compared with a baseline survey completed before the intervention, prejudice was significantly reduced in the treatment group 6 and 12 weeks later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first known "heatmap" representing Australian public narratives across a range of groups experiencing disadvantage developed from a comprehensive literature review of primary Australian studies between 2020 and 2021. Eleven narratives were identified across 14 population groups with the most frequent being deficit narratives, misrepresentation of the issue and 'absent' narratives (group being described not represented in the narrative). The most frequently described groups were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people living with a disability, racial minorities and women. The heatmap resonated with three global review‐level studies and findings of supplementary qualitative interviews. Examination of relationships between the heatmap and empirical Australian disadvantage data enabled identification of missing and misleading public narratives. Attempts to disrupt such narratives can improve the understanding of disadvantage by more truthfully reflecting the lives, experiences and challenges of groups experiencing disadvantage. Updates to the heatmap can enable analysis of the impact of disruption strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of the neighbourhood context for residents’ social cohesion, the current study examines the association between types of social and non-social places on three indicators of social cohesion: neighbour networks, social cohesion and neighbourhood attachment. We spatially integrate data from the census, topographic databases and a 2012 survey of 4132 residents from 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, and employ multilevel models to assess whether the variation in resident reports of social cohesion is attributable to land uses that function as neighbourhood social conduits. We also consider the degree to which neighbourhood fragmentation affects our indicators of social cohesion. Our findings reveal that even after controlling for the socio-demographic context of the neighbourhood and a range of individual and household control variables, residents’ reports of social cohesion are significantly associated with the types of social conduits, the diversity of land use and the degree of neighbourhood fragmentation.

Social disorganization theory positions informal social control as central to neighborhood crime reduction. Although neighborhood ties, fear of crime, and perceived disorder influence the exercise of informal social control, there are significant sex differences for these drivers that might differentially influence men and women’s informal social control actions. Furthermore, these differences may be exaggerated under conditions that activate gendered divisions of labor. We use survey data from 4,000 residents in 148 neighborhoods and employ multilevel logistic regression to examine the relationship between sex and informal social control actions. We find that men are more likely to take action than women; however, our three-way interactions reveal family arrangements moderate the relationship between ties, fear of crime, disorder, and these actions.

This paper explores the association between neighbourhood land use features and informal social control. More specifically, we examine the extent to which such features in combination with the socio-demographic context of the neighbourhood facilitate or impede collective efficacy and local civic actions. We achieve this through spatially integrating data from the census, topographic databases and a 2012 survey of 4132 residents from 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia. The study creates a new classification of a neighbourhood’s physical environment by creating novel categories of land use features that depict social conduits, social holes and social wedges. Social conduits are features of the neighbourhood that facilitate interaction between individuals, social holes are land uses that create situations where there is no occupancy, and social wedges are features that carve up neighbourhoods. We find some evidence to suggest that residents’ reports of collective efficacy are higher in neighbourhoods with a greater density of social conduits. Density of social conduits is also positively associated with local civic action. However, in neighbourhoods with more greenspace, residents are less likely to engage in local civic actions.

Using two waves of survey data for residents in neighborhoods in Brisbane, this study explores the interdependent relationship between residents' perceptions of neighboring, cohesion, collective efficacy, neighborhood disorder, and the actions they take to address these problems. Our longitudinal results show that residents' perceived severity of a problem helps explain engaging in activity to address the problem. People loitering appeared to be the most galvanizing problem for residents, but had particularly deleterious effects on perceptions of cohesion and collective efficacy. We also find that residents who perceive more neighboring in their local area engage in more public and parochial social control activity and residents who live in collectively efficacious neighborhoods are more likely to engage in parochial social control action. Furthermore, residents who themselves perceive more collective efficacy in the neighborhood engage in more parochial or public social control during the subsequent time period. Importantly, we find strong evidence that residents update their sense of collective efficacy. Perceiving more problems in the neighborhood, and perceiving that these problems are increasing, reduced perceptions of neighboring and collective efficacy over time.

Objectives: Cross-sectional studies consistently find that neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy experience fewer social problems. Particularly robust is the relationship between collective efficacy and violent crime, which holds regardless of the socio-structural conditions of neighborhoods. Yet due to the limited availability of neighborhood panel data, the temporal relationship between neighborhood structure, collective efficacy and crime is less well understood. Methods: In this paper, we provide an empirical test of the collective efficacy-crime association over time by bringing together multiple waves of survey and census data and counts of violent crime incident data collected across 148 neighborhoods in Brisbane, Australia. Utilizing three different longitudinal models that make different assumptions about the temporal nature of these relationships, we examine the reciprocal relationships between neighborhood features and collective efficacy with violent crime. We also consider the spatial embeddedness of these neighborhood characteristics and their association with collective efficacy and the concentration of violence longitudinally. Results: Notably, our findings reveal no direct relationship between collective efficacy and violent crime over time. However, we find a strong reciprocal relationship between collective efficacy and disadvantage and between disadvantage and violence, indicating an indirect relationship between collective efficacy and violence. Conclusions: The null direct effects for collective efficacy on crime in a longitudinal design suggest that this relationship may not be as straightforward as presumed in the literature. More longitudinal research is needed to understand the dynamics of disadvantage, collective efficacy, and violence in neighborhoods.

Objectives: Social disorganization states that neighborhood social ties and shared expectations for informal social control are necessary for the exercise of informal social control actions. Yet this association is largely assumed rather than empirically examined in the literature. This paper examines the relationship between neighborhood social ties, shared expectations for informal social control and actual parochial and public informal social control actions taken by residents in response to big neighborhood problems. Methods: Using multi-level logistic regression models, we integrate Australian Bureau of Statistics census data with the Australian Community Capacity Study survey data of 1310 residents reporting 2614 significant neighborhood problems across 148 neighborhoods to examine specific informal social control actions taken by residents when faced with neighborhood problems. Results: We do not find a relationship between shared expectations for informal social control and residents’ informal social control actions. Individual social ties, however, do lead to an increase in informal social control actions in response to ‘big’ neighborhood problems. Residents with strong ties are more likely to engage in public and parochial informal social control actions than those individuals who lack social ties. Yet individuals living in neighborhoods with high levels of social ties are only moderately more likely to engage in parochial informal social control action than those living in areas where these ties are not present. Shared expectations for informal social control are not associated with the likelihood that residents engage in informal social control actions when faced with a significant neighborhood problem. Conclusion: Neighborhood social ties and shared expectations for informal social control are not unilaterally necessary for the exercise of informal social control actions. Our results challenge contemporary articulations of social disorganization theory that assume that the availability of neighborhood social ties or expectations for action are associated with residents actually doing something to exercise of informal social control.

This study examines the relationship between anticipated ethno-racial rejection, place attachment, and attitudes toward immigrants. Drawing from over 2,500 responses from a neighborhood level survey conducted in Melbourne, Australia, we ask if those who anticipate social rejection on the basis of their race and ethnicity report unwelcoming attitudes toward immigrants when compared to those who do not anticipate rejection. We then assess if this relationship is either strengthened or weakened for those who report strong neighborhood attachment. We find that individuals who anticipate rejection are less welcoming of immigrants. Yet, those with high levels of place attachment report more welcoming attitudes toward immigrants, even if they anticipate rejection. These findings demonstrate that place attachment is a strong protective factor against the development of harmful attitudes toward immigrants for residents who are uncertain about inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess residents’ perceptions of social capital (social cohesion, place attachment, and neighboring), the authors create innovative measures of residents’ assessments of neighborhood ethnic minorities and the extent of social ties between members of the same ethnic group compared with chance. The authors use a sample of nearly 10,000 residents nested in 297 neighborhoods in two Australian cities. Residents who perceive more minorities in their neighborhood, who have more or fewer ties with members of the other ethnic group than expected by chance, or who live in neighborhoods with more intergroup ties than would be expected report lower levels of social capital.

Objectives : We test which neighborhood characteristics are associated with perceived control over victimization and how the neighborhood context explains differences between women's and men's perceived control. Methods: Drawing upon administrative data and a survey of 2,862 participants living in 80 neighborhoods in Victoria, Australia, we make a distinction between broader characteristics of the neighborhood, community processes, and gendered neighborhood dynamics. We run a series of multilevel mixed effects regression models to examine the relationship between individual-level perceptions of control over victimization and the neighborhood. Results: Results indicate that a concentration of low-income households in the neighborhood is associated with residents reporting less control over their victimization. Furthermore, the interaction revealed higher crime in the neighborhood lowered women's perceived control while heightening men's perceived control over victimization. Conclusions: Gender remained strongly associated with perceived control over victimization throughout the analysis despite extensive testing of general and gendered neighborhood conditions that may account for differences between women and men. The results found that overall crime rates were the only feature that assisted in explaining the differences between women and men. Future research must seek to better capture the environmental conditions that can account for the difference between women's and men's perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The local neighborhood forms an integral part of our lives. It provides the context through which social networks are nurtured and the foundation from which a sense of attachment and cohesion with fellow residents can be established. Whereas much of the previous research has examined the role of social and demographic characteristic in relation to the level of neighboring and cohesion, this paper explores whether particular environmental features in the neighborhood affect social porosity. We define social porosity as the degree to which social ties flow over the surface of a neighborhood. The focus of our paper is to examine the extent to which a neighborhood's environmental features impede the level of social porosity present among residents. To do this, we integrate data from the census, topographic databases and a 2010 survey of 4,351 residents from 146 neighborhoods in Australia. The study introduces the concepts of wedges and social holes. The presence of two sources of wedges is measured: rivers and highways. The presence of two sources of social holes is measured: parks and industrial areas. Borrowing from the geography literature, several measures are constructed to capture how these features collectively carve up the physical environment of neighborhoods. We then consider how this influences residents' neighboring behavior, their level of attachment to the neighborhood and their sense of neighborhood cohesion. We find that the distance of a neighborhood to one form of social hole-industrial areas-has a particularly strong negative effect on all three dependent variables. The presence of the other form of social hole-parks-has a weaker negative effect. Neighborhood wedges also impact social interaction. Both the length of a river and the number of highway fragments in a neighborhood has a consistent negative effect on neighboring, attachment and cohesion.

In the neighborhood effects literature, collective efficacy is viewed as the key explanatory process associated with the spatial distribution of a range of social problems. While many studies usefully focus on the consequences of collective efficacy, in this paper we examine the task specificity of collective efficacy and consider the individual and neighborhood factors that influence residents' perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy for specific tasks. Utilizing survey and administrative data from 4,093 residents nested in 148 communities in Australia, we distinguish collective efficacy for particular threats to social order and assess the relative importance of social cohesion and neighborhood social ties to the development of collective efficacy for violence, delinquency and civic/political issues. Our results indicate that a model separating collective efficacy for specific problems from social ties and the more generalized notions of social cohesion is necessary when understanding the regulation potential of neighborhoods.

Research shows that residents report high levels of disorder in places with greater concentrations of minorities even after controlling for objective indicators of crime or disorder. Less understood, however, are the mechanisms that explain this relationship. Drawing on a survey of nearly 10,000 residents nested within 297 neighborhoods across two cities, we use a multiple indicators-multiple causes model to examine the cues that lead individuals to distort the presence of minorities in neighborhoods. We then employ multilevel models to test whether these distortions influence perceptions of disorder. Furthermore, we assess whether living in a socially cohesive neighborhood mediates and/or moderates the relationship between "seeing" minorities and perceiving disorder. We find that when residents overestimate the proportion of minorities living in their neighborhood, perceptions of disorder are heightened. Yet social cohesion moderates and partially mediates this relationship: Residents living in socially cohesive neighborhoods not only report less disorder than those living in less cohesive communities, but also they "see" fewer minorities when compared with residents living in less socially cohesive neighborhoods. These results suggest that social cohesion is an important mechanism for explaining how residents internalize the presence of minorities in their neighborhoods and how this then leads to perceived neighborhood disorder. © 2013 American Society of Criminology.

Research shows that residents report high levels of disorder in places with greater concentrations of minorities even after controlling for objective indicators of crime or disorder. Less understood, however, are the mechanisms that explain this relationship. Drawing on a survey of nearly 10,000 residents nested within 297 neighborhoods across two cities, we use a multiple indicators multiple causes model to examine the cues that lead individuals to distort the presence of minorities in neighborhoods. We then employ multi-level models to assess how these distortions influence perceptions of disorder. Further, we assess if living in a socially cohesive neighborhood mediates and/or moderates the relationship between “seeing” minorities and perceiving disorder. We find that when residents overestimate the proportion of minorities living in their neighborhood, perceptions of disorder are heightened. Yet social cohesion moderates and partially mediates this relationship: residents living in socially cohesive neighborhoods not only report less disorder than those living in less cohesive communities; they “see” fewer minorities when compared to residents living in less socially cohesive neighborhoods. These results suggest that social cohesion is an important mechanism for explaining how residents internalize the presence of minorities in their neighborhoods and how this then leads to perceived neighborhood disorder.