My life experience, and common sense, tell me that clear cultural and subcultural structures are necessary foundations for dependable and predictable human interaction. People associate tribally for good reasons - they don't know what the deal is with other tribes, nor are they powerfully curious about finding out (which cannot really be done non-superficially anyway, since inculcation into a culture requires the time from birth to around age 18).
Multiculturalism throws a bomb at those grounding, life-sustaining structures, which is why I consider it to be a nihilistic political movement.
Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam is seemingly scared by the non-PC, non-multicult results of his new diversity research. He has reason to be scared: The PC Speech Control Enforcers can be ruthless: recall the academic fury towards Charles Murray's Bell Curve, the Larry Summers massacre, etc.
John Leo's piece about Putnam, Bowling with our Own at City Journal, begins thus:
Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short- and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, trust, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities. He fears that his work on the surprisingly negative effects of diversity will become part of the immigration debate, even though he finds that in the long run, people do forge new communities and new ties.
Putnam’s study reveals that immigration and diversity not only reduce social capital between ethnic groups, but also within the groups themselves. Trust, even for members of one’s own race, is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friendships fewer.
Read Leo's whole piece about Putnam. We like John Leo - he is an expert birder and birders are a good, if a bit eccentric, crew.
Interesting comments on Leo's piece from, among others, our friends Rick Moran and Dr. Sanity,
Addendum: Here's our archive piece on Trust Cues and Tribalism
John Leo reports on a diversity study by Robert Putnam that raises troubling questions about the benefits of diversity. Specifically, he finds that living in diverse areas is correlated to a bevy of negative effects on the residents:
Tracked: Jul 01, 00:34
"People like to say today that 'diversity is our strength.' It's almost like a State Religion. But diversity isn't our strength: freedom is our strength. Uncontrolled cultural diversity is the story of the Tower of Babel."Tom Tancredo, as heard
Tracked: Aug 17, 07:06
Race is obviously a factor in voting, since most blacks in the US vote Dem, and over 90% of Dem primary voters are voting for Obama (which demonstrates something you could call racism but which, I think, is better described as "tribalism").I bel
Tracked: May 14, 07:25
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston officiated at Jenna Bush's lakeside wedding at the President's Crawford home Saturday. In January the longtime spiritual adviser to the president said he had decided to endorse Democratic
Tracked: May 14, 09:31
Our post on Race in the Race last a few weeks ago reminded me of the several posts we have done over recent years about tribalism and trust, making the rather obvious point that people tend towards "affinity groups" because they know they are mo
Tracked: May 30, 13:23
Our post on Race in the Race last a few weeks ago reminded me of the several posts we have done over recent years about tribalism and trust, making the rather obvious point that people tend towards "affinity groups" because they are more likely
Tracked: Jun 10, 09:37