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Over the last four decades, the United States has achieved tremendous racial and ethnic diversity. The proportion of non-Hispanic whites residing in the country is now only 62%, while Hispanics and Asians together account for 22.5%.
Since 2014, less than half of all children born in the United States. comes from two non-Hispanic white parents. In some states, like Texas, they are already a majority minority.
This rapid demographic change, due to both immigration and high fertility rates among Hispanic Americans, has raised concerns and even fears among some, and has probably contributed to the election of President Donald Trump. 19659004] This greater anxiety occurs despite the fact that immigration from Latin America is declining and that Hispanic fertility rates have dropped. Meanwhile, about 39% of Hispanic honeymooners were born in the United States and 46% of Asian honeymooners were born in the United States. they marry people of other races (especially whites), a number that will probably increase even more in the years to come.
Some of the children and grandchildren of these unions will likely be identified as white. Then, the demographic decline of the American whites is probably exaggerated.
But, exaggerated or not, the demographic change represents a great challenge for the United States, which already has a history of conflictual relations between whites and people of color as a result of slavery and slavery. segregation. Poor racial relations can not only lead to violence and discrimination, but can also create dysfunctional policies and poor economic performance.
Data from developing countries show that ethnic divisions, often created as a result of arbitrary colonial boundaries, tend to undermine the provision of public goods, making a country more vulnerable to poverty.
However, this correlation is not a law of nature. And so far, the United States has managed to overcome the challenges posed by increasing diversity. Cities with a diversity tend to spend as much or more than less diverse cities, probably because of the successful development of interethnic coalitions.
The nation's most diverse states, such as Texas and California, and high-diversity cities like Houston, Los Angeles, and San Diego tend to be economic successes (in addition to having relatively high rates low levels of violent crime).
Perhaps because of its liberal economy, relative tolerance, and history as an immigration country in the United States. He has done a better job than most other countries in forging a diverse, rich and peaceful society. This unique attitude of complacency towards diversity is visible in the polls:
Yet, as Trump's election and the resulting racial tensions have shown, creating a unity from diversity is a constant battle.
In a 2012 experiment, political scientist Ryan Enos sent a group of Hispanics to stop at a Boston train station and discovered that white Bostonians who heard them talk tended to express more opinions. negative on immigration.
Enos later wrote a book titled "The Space Between Us: Social and Political Geography," about how a large ethnic minority living nearby can stoke racial tensions, especially in the presence of segregation . Challenge of diversity, it is crucial to break the geographical barriers between racial groups.
Fortunately, the research offers a glimmer of hope that this can be achieved. The theory that prolonged contact improves attitudes toward other racial groups is supported by a large number of research studies.
It seems that the famous sentence of the novel "Kill a Mocker" – "Most people are [buenas] when you finally get to see them" – describes a real and powerful force that can change the behavior of human beings to other ethnic, religious or racial groups. Therefore, integration efforts should focus on producing positive long-term and repeated interactions between racial groups.
But how can this be done? In any free distance economy, people, especially the wealthiest, will be able to choose where they live. This makes it difficult to avoid voluntary segregation, even though people have only a slight preference for living close to people of their own ethnicity, this can lead to substantial homogenization by neighborhood at the same time. over time.
Giving poor housing obligations and strictly enforcing housing laws and anti-discrimination loans can help, but it can not completely solve the problem. Meanwhile, integration into public schools through bus transportation has proved politically difficult in most parts of the country.
More creative approaches are needed. One of them is dense urban development. Although racial preferences for housing tend to divide groups, the need to live and work in a shared space forces them to be close.
Research shows that since 1990, white Americans have moved, on average, to neighborhoods with greater racial diversity and have remained there. The urban renaissance of the country is undoubtedly part of it. Therefore, keeping this urban renaissance moving, allowing more housing development and building more mass transit in cities with more diversity, is key.
Integration in schools is another challenge. Offering tax breaks or financial incentives to public or private schools with diverse student bodies could help more children grow up with Americans of other races.
A third force of integration is the US military. Serve together is probably a powerful way to create lasting positive attitudes towards other races. Developing the US military and implementing a national service program would help Americans realize that they are all part of the same team.
Finally, the university can be a powerful tool to encourage positive interracial contact in the long run. Expanding public universities, keeping student associations at a high level of diversity, using roommates to encourage interracial contacts, and vigorously banning or discouraging racially exclusive parties would be key measures to make higher education a unifying force more powerful .
Diversity can create great challenges, but it also offers great opportunities: the promise of a bigger and stronger nation, richer in dollars and cultural ideas. The United States, despite its historical setbacks, is in an almost unique position to reap the benefits of diversity and overcome difficulties.
By Noah Smith
This review does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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