Living together apart? Ethnic concentration in the neighbourhood and ethnic minorities' social contacts and language practices

Abstract

Together with the rise in ethnic residential concentration, attention for the potential negative consequences of ethnic concentration in the neighbourhood for ethnic minorities’ integration has also increased in recent years. And although many neighbourhood interventions have been implemented, there is still a lack of scientific knowledge concerning the effects of ethnic residential concentration on ethnic minorities’ integration. This dissertation seeks to expand current scientific knowledge and to contribute to the public debate by studying the effects of ethnic residential concentration on ethnic minorities’ social contacts and language practices. The main results indicate that ethnic residential concentration is related to less social contact with natives, but more social contact with co-ethnics. Through these social contacts, ethnic residential concentration hinders ethnic minorities’ majority language proficiency and use. Moreover, ethnic residential concentration is found to constrain the strength of ethnic minorities’ social ties with natives and the rise in ethnic concentration partly explains the stagnation of ethnic minorities’ social contacts with natives over time. Implications of these results are discussed.