Social cohesion is the strength of interactions between members of society. These interactions are characterised by a number of norms that include trust, a sense of belonging, and a willingness to participate.
Measures of social cohesion include generalised trust, interpersonal trust, civic participation and volunteering.
Evidence from the US suggests a strong relationship between rising diversity and lower levels of generalised trust. There is much less evidence for a relationship between diversity and other measures of social cohesion in the US.
There are some cultural reasons to suspect that American evidence might not fully apply to Europe and the UK.
European evidence at a national level does not suggest a negative relationship between diversity and trust or other social cohesion indicators.
Evidence from the UK is mixed. There is some evidence to suggest an association between higher diversity and lower generalised trust – yet there is also conflicting evidence which finds no such association.
There is little evidence to suggest a negative relationship between diversity and other measures of social cohesion such as: civic participation, trust in authority, or voluntary work in the UK.
