ABSTRACT
Societies are becoming increasingly diverse with respect to ethnicity, cul-ture, and religious beliefs. Such diversity can have different intergroup outcomes. In some places it has led to “race” riots, such as those in Bradford in the United Kingdom in 2001, and the Cronulla riots in Sydney, Australia in 2005. In diverse communities where contact is most likely, there is evidence that levels of trust, participation, and well-being (i.e., indicators of social capital) are eroded (Putnam, 2000 ). In contrast, there is evidence that multi-ethnic communities can be creative and vibrant, and can enable greater intergroup tolerance. Along these lines, Christ et al. ( 2014 ) found that tolerance was higher in those ethnically diverse communities that had more instances of positive inter-ethnic contact (controlling for people’s own personal level of contact). What this means is that under certain conditions diversity can increase tolerance.
