• ISBN13: 9780521875516
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Sociology and Anthropology
• Publisher: Cambridge UP
• Publisher Imprint: Cambridge
• Publication Date: August 6, 2007
• Pages: 218
• Original Price: USD 75.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 418 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Minority Studies

About the Book Race and racial diversity are important aspects of America and have been shown to substantially affect social relations and the political system, often in ways inconsistent with the values of equality. However, greater civic association and a general sense of community, embodied in the concept of social capital, are said to have tremendous beneficial effects and profoundly influence American society. This study juxtaposes and critically assesses two bodies of research, including the work made famous in Robert Putnam''s Bowling Alone, that have reached different conclusions on these issues. Is America's legacy of racial inequality an 'evil twin' of the benefits of social capital? By analyzing the social outcomes for racial minorities, in addition to other dimensions of American politics, the author shows that the impact of racial diversity consistently outweighs that of social capital.

Hero, Rodney E.: - Rodney E. Hero is the Packey J. Dee III Professor of American Democracy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Latinos and the U.S. Political System (1992), which received the Ralph J. Bunche award of the American Political Science Association, and Faces of Inequality (1998), winner of the APSA's Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award. Professor Hero is also co-author of Multi-Ethnic Moments: The Politics of Urban Education Reform (2006).