91制片厂

View of the city of听Manchester, N.H., with the historic mills in the foreground.

It was only a generation ago that Manchester residents joked about needing a passport to visit the French-Canadian neighborhoods on the city鈥檚 west side. Cross the Merrimack River and you might hear conversations in French while getting poutine at a neighborhood restaurant. For decades, it鈥檚 what passed for diversity in a city with a homogenous racial make-up. Things changed quickly, though: Since 1990, Manchester鈥檚 demographics have shifted from a population that was more than 95 percent non-Hispanic white people to less than 80 percent. Immigrants and refugees from South America, Africa and Asia have made Manchester increasingly diverse, and nowhere are the changes more visible than in the city鈥檚 neighborhoods.

But what happens when a city experiences a sudden shift in diversity? Does the change in demographics reduce racial inequality and increase tolerance? And what happens to the city鈥檚 neighborhoods, civic organizations and schools? Those are some of the questions sociology Ph.D. candidate Justin Young is hoping to answer in his dissertation. He received a 2014-2015 Dissertation Year Fellowship from 91制片厂, with which he鈥檚 been able to continue his research.

Prior sociological research has focused on the quantity of relationships between residents in more and less听diverse neighborhoods. Young, a research assistant at the Carsey School of Public Policy, focused on how those relationships, known as 鈥渟ocial capital,鈥� are cultivated and nurtured, and how they benefit both groups.

Justin Young

鈥淛ustin reads widely and he鈥檚 ambitious and pushes himself to keep digging, either for more data or for a conceptual understanding of some of the puzzles he鈥檚 trying to disentangle,鈥� says professor of sociology Michele Dillon, Young鈥檚 dissertation chair and advisor. His research, she says, 鈥渙pens up more kinds of nuanced analysis of racially and ethnically diverse communities.鈥�

Young spent the summer of 2012 wandering through four of Manchester鈥檚 neighborhoods and collecting data. He鈥檇 park his car and walk around, taking notes on the buildings, shops, restaurants and schools he found. He spoke with residents at their homes and in community meetings. Sometimes, he鈥檇 simply sit on a park bench and watch a neighborhood鈥檚 ebb and flow.

鈥淪omebody would see me with a notebook and become interested in what I was doing and just start talking about the neighborhood,鈥� Young says.

The picture of those neighborhoods is complicated. Though a neighborhood might be racially diverse, it doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that the relationships between white and non-white residents are strong. Diverse neighborhoods help increase those connections and can improve race relations, but that only goes so far, Young says.

鈥淥ne of the most striking things is that residential integration is necessary for racial equality, but it鈥檚 not a cure-all for racial inequality,鈥� he says. 鈥淛ust because people live in a neighborhood that is becoming more racially diverse doesn鈥檛 mean they have racially diverse social networks.鈥�

He found that white residents living in less diverse neighborhoods, or on the border of a more racially diverse neighborhood, were more likely to have an indifferent or negative view of diversity. Some saw increasing diversity as 鈥渄raining the city鈥檚 resources,鈥� or they thought immigrants and refugees weren鈥檛 taking steps to become integrated, and many of those residents were more likely to be less connected to their neighborhoods.

But, according to Young, both non-white and white residents living in more racially integrated neighborhoods seemed to embrace the diversity.

鈥淪ome people really valued living in a neighborhood partly because it鈥檚 so racially and ethnically diverse, and they want to be part of that because that鈥檚 the future of Manchester and the future of the nation,鈥� he says.

And those attitudes shape who gets involved in schools, civic groups, churches and other networks that are vital to cultivating bonds between diverse populations and increasing a group鈥檚 social capital. If white residents aren鈥檛 taking steps to include people of color in those networks, minority populations are less likely to get involved, even in diverse neighborhoods.

Young saw the impact first-hand. He spoke with a group of Hispanic parents and asked them what problems in their neighborhood and local school they鈥檇 like to see fixed. 鈥淚t was being attached to a parent-teacher group that helped them say, 鈥楾his is one of the issues our school is facing, let鈥檚 go to the next Board of Alderman meeting to talk about it,鈥欌�� he says.

Income inequality also shapes attitudes about diversity and affects which groups get involved in their neighborhoods, according to Young. Diverse neighborhoods are more likely to be economically disadvantaged, and the gaps between the city鈥檚 non-Hispanic white population and minority groups are most clear when looking at income, education levels and home ownership.

鈥淲hen you observe diversity in a neighborhood firsthand, you can鈥檛 escape the fact that inequality is playing a major role,鈥� Young said.

In fact, he believes that income inequality may be the biggest stumbling block when it comes to improving race relations. Integrated, diverse neighborhoods help, but according to Young, more economic parity between Manchester鈥檚 white residents and the city鈥檚 minority populations will lead to more equal social capital and civic involvement between the two groups.

Manchester and other cities in the northeast are only going to grow more diverse, says Young. 鈥淓ven if immigration stopped entirely, the city would still become diverse simply because of demographics.鈥�

That change is reflected everywhere, from the city鈥檚 schools to its churches, where a service in English might be followed by a service in Spanish and then one in Arabic. It鈥檚 not passports that Manchester residents need to appreciate the city鈥檚 diversifying neighborhoods 鈥� just a willingness to be more inclusive and embrace change.

Originally published by:

The College Letter, the newsletter of the 91制片厂 College of Liberal Arts