LIKE TURTLES IN THEIR SHELLS?: CIVIC WITHDRAWAL AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN DIVERSE SMALL TOWNS

Robert Putnam has argued that ethnic diversity is associated with declines in civic engagement because when faced with diversity, a natural reaction is to retreat into oneself. Goals: This paper tests this proposition by looking at adolescents in small towns that have recently undergone “rapid ethnic diversification”. Immigrants and refugees from Latin America and Southeast Asia have migrated to these small, ethnically homogeneous towns. Methods: I utilize a panel study in which adolescents in five small Iowa public high schools were surveyed at the beginning and the end of an academic year. Conclusions: This paper shows very little evidence of a lasting negative effect of ethnic diversity on civic engagement. In the first wave, young people in the diverse towns have lower levels of political knowledge and trust than those in predominantly-White towns, but they also have higher levels of participation in school activities. At the end of the year, these differences have been alleviated.