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Identity, Community and Segregation

Bryony Reich (br284@cam.ac.uk)
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Bryony Reich: Department of Economics, University of Cambridge

No 10-10, Working Papers from NET Institute

Abstract: I develop a framework to explain why identity divides some communities and not others. An identity group is defined as a group of individuals with the same `culture'. A community is divided when different identities are socially segregated; a community is integrated when there is no social segregation between different identities. I find three possible outcomes for a community: assimilation, where groups socially integrate and one group conforms to the culture of another; non-assimilative integration, where groups integrate but individuals retain their own identity; and segregation, where groups socially segregate and retain their own culture. I find that certain community environments encourage segregation: (i) communities with similar sized identity groups; (ii) larger communities; (iii) communities with greater cultural distance between identities. Further, when segregation occurs, the cultural divide between the two groups can increase endogenously beyond ex-ante differences.

Keywords: identity; culture; segregation; immigration; immigrants; networks; network formation; coordination; stochastic stability. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 C73 D74 D85 H00 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2010-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-ltv, nep-mig, nep-net, nep-soc and nep-ure
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