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Free keywords:
Diversity; attitudes; Germany; survey; immigration; support
Abstract:
Recent evidence suggests that in many European countries generally positive
views about societal diversity predominate. Yet, as research has rather
focussed on negative attitudes towards immigration and diversity, less is
known about positive attitudes and those who hold them. The paper makes
a conceptual and an empirical contribution to filling this gap. We introduce a
multidimensional concept, “diversity assent”, to capture both evaluations of
diversity and attitudes towards reflecting diversity in societal institutions. We
test the concept using the case of urban Germany, drawing from a large,
purpose-built survey. We demonstrate that, while assent differs for the two
dimensions, a sizeable majority of those who evaluate diversity positively also
agree with representing diversity in official policy and institutions, with some
differences along socio-political lines.
