The previous chapters presented the major theoretical arguments and associated research findings of two theoretical perspectives, racial diversity (Chapter 3) and social capital (Chapter 2). Theoretical and conceptual differences between the two were also discussed. Although they were treated as essentially separate theories, it was also implied that there is contention, interconnection, and overlap; indeed, the diversity thesis suggests that social capital is in considerable part an artifact of diversity (a notion we shall develop more fully in this chapter). What follows in this and the two succeeding chapters is a series of analyses juxtaposing the two perspectives in a variety of ways, emphasizing macro-level analyses but also bringing in some micro-level analysis. Before turning directly to those analyses, however, some preliminary discussion is essential.

I have suggested that social capital and racial diversity are interrelated and possibly in tension. To assess that with empirical evidence, I examined the relationship between the social capital index (Putnam 2000) and minority diversity (i.e., percentage of black, Latino, and Asian population; see Hero 1998) in the states and found a rather strongly negative relationship (adjusted r = −.58, R2 = .33 to .43, depending on whether a “squared term” is used to capture an upward swing in the regression line). This relation is illustrated in Figure 4-1. More minority diversity is related to less social capital overall; and a third or more of social capital appears to be attributable to racial/ethnic diversity.