Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T23:04:12.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ethnic Homogeneity and Community Policing: The Surprising Effects of Social Capital in Two Cape Town Neighborhoods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2017

Ann K. Karreth
Ann K. Karreth*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Relations, Ursinus College
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ann K. Karreth, Department of Politics and International Relations, Ursinus College. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Under what conditions does coethnicity undermine mutually beneficial collective action? One of the most enduring hypotheses in a comparative political economy decade is that ethnic diversity tends to undermine public goods provision. Ethnically homogenous communities are assumed to have a distinct advantage in local goods provision because shared identities tend to facilitate cooperation among coethnics. However, one can observe variation in the success of local goods provision across homogenous communities. To explain this puzzling occurrence, I explore the relationship between coethnicity and social capital, examining how they interact differently in different contexts. Empirically, I conduct an analysis of my own fieldwork on community policing efforts in two ethnically homogenous communities in Cape Town, South Africa. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that, in some contexts, coethnicity facilitates the development of bonding social capital, a type of social capital that constricts opportunities for individual action by creating certain expectations about behavior. In the context of community policing, those expectations can discourage individuals from participating in collective efforts.

Keywords

public goodssocial capitalethnicitycommunity policingSouth Africanorms
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , September 2018 , pp. 331 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alesina, A., Baqir, R. and Easterly, W.. 1999. “Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114 (4): 1243.Google Scholar
Bacharach, M. and Gambetta, D.. 2001. “Trust in Signs.” In Trust in Society, Vol. 2, ed. Cook, Karen S.. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 148–84.Google Scholar
Barr, Abigail. 2003. “Trust and Expected Trustworthiness: Experimental Evidence From Zimbabwean Villages*.” The Economic Journal 113 (489): 614–30.Google Scholar
Bhavnani, Ravi and Miodownik, Dan. 2009. “Ethnic Polarization, Ethnic Salience, and Civil War.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 53 (1): 30–49.Google Scholar
Black, Donald. 2014. The Social Structure of Right and Wrong. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brogden, Michael. 2002. “Implanting Community Policing in South Africa: A Failure of History, of Context, and of Theory.” Liverpool Law Review 24 (3): 157–79.Google Scholar
Butovskaya, M., Salter, F., Diakonov, I. and Smirnov, A.. 2000. “Urban Begging and Ethnic Nepotism in Russia.” Human Nature 11 (2): 157–82.Google Scholar
Carr, Patrick J. 2003. “The New Parochialism: The Implications of the Beltway Case for Arguments Concerning Informal Social Control.” American Journal of Sociology 108 (6): 1249–91.Google Scholar
Chandra, Kanchan. 2004. Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Headcounts in India. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics Cambridge. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chandra, Kanchan. 2006. “What is Ethnic Identity and Does it Matter?.” Annual Review of Political Science 9: 397–424.Google Scholar
Cheong, Pauline Hope, Edwards, Rosalind, Goulbourne, Harry and Solomos, John. 2007. “Immigration, Social Cohesion and Social Capital: A Critical Review.” Critical Social Policy 27 (1): 24–49.Google Scholar
Chwe, Michael Suk-Young. 2001. Rational Ritual: Culture Coordination, and Common Knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, James Samuel. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cook, Karen. 2005. “Networks, Norms, and Trust: The Social Psychology of Social Capital.” Social Psychology Quarterly 68 (1): 4–14.Google Scholar
Easterly, William and Levine, Ross. 1997. “Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 (4): 1203–50.Google Scholar
Elster, Jon. 1989. The Cement of Society: A Study of Social Order. Studies in Rationality and Social Change Cambridge. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fafchamps, Marcel. 2003. “Ethnicity and Networks in African Trade.” Contributions in Economic Analysis & Policy 2 (1): 1–51.Google Scholar
Fershtman, Chaim and Gneezy, U.. 2001. “Discrimination in A Segmented Society: An Experimental Approach.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116 (1): 351–77.Google Scholar
Foddy, M. and Yamagishi, T.. 2009. “Group-Based Trust.” In Whom can we Trust? How Groups, Networks, and Institutions Make Trust Possible, ed. Cook, Karen S.. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360–80.Google Scholar
Habyarimana, James P., Humphreys, Macartan, Posner, Daniel N. and Weinstein, Jeremey M.. 2009. Coethnicity: Diversity and the Dilemmas of Collective Action. Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Hale, H.E. 2004. “Explaining Ethnicity.” Comparative Political Studies 37 (4): 458–85.Google Scholar
Hawdon, James. 2008. “Legitimacy, Trust, Social Capital, and Policing Styles: A Theoretical Statement.” Police Quarterly 11 (2): 182–201.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hunter, Albert. 1985. “Private, Parochial and Public Social Orders: The Problem of Crime and Incivility in Urban Communities.” In The Challenge of Social Control: Citizenship and Institution Building in Modern Society, eds. Suttles, Gerald and Zald, Meyer. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, pp. 230–42.Google Scholar
Janowitz, Morris. 1975. “Sociological Theory and Social Control.” American Journal of Sociology 81 (1): 82–108.Google Scholar
Kasara, Kimuli. 2011. Separate and Suspicious: Local Social and Political Context and Ethnic Tolerance in Kenya. Technical report Afrobarometer Working Paper.Google Scholar
Kuran, Timur. 1998. “Ethnic Norms and Their Transformation Through Reputational Cascades.” The Journal of Legal Studies 27 (S2): 623–59.Google Scholar
Larsen, Larissa, Harlan, Sharon L., Bolin, Bob, Hackett, Edward J., Hope, Diane, Kirby, Andrew, Nelson, Amy, Rex, Tom R. and Wolf, Shaphard. 2004. “Bonding and Bridging: Understanding the Relationship Between Social Capital and Civic Action.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 24 (1): 64–77.Google Scholar
Levi, Margaret. 1996. “Social and Unsocial Capital: A Review Essay of Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work.” Politics & Society 24 (1): 45–55.Google Scholar
Miguel, E. and Gugerty, M. K.. 2005. “Ethnic Diversity, Social Sanctions, and Public Goods in Kenya.” Journal of Public Economics 89 (11–12): 2325–68.Google Scholar
Muyeba, Singumbe and Seekings, Jeremy. 2011. “Race, Attitudes and Behaviour in Racially-Mixed, Low-Income Neighbourhoods in Cape Town, South Africa.” Current Sociology 59 (5): 655–71.Google Scholar
Oldfield, Sophie. 2004. “Urban Networks, Community Organising and Race: An Analysis of Racial Integration in a Desegregated South African Neighbourhood.” Geoforum 35 (2): 189–201.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action; Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1991. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 2000. “Social Capital: A Fad or a Fundamental Concept?” In Social Capital: A Multifaceted Perspective, Vol. 172, eds. Dasgupta, Partha and Serageldin, Ismail. Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 195–98.Google Scholar
Pelser, Eric. 1999. The Challenges of Community Policing in South Africa. Occasional Paper 42, Institute for Security Studies, Pretroia. pp. 10.Google Scholar
Pino, Nathan. 2001. “Community Policing and Social Capital.” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 24 (2): 200–15.Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro. 2000. “The Two Meanings of Social Capital.” Sociological Forum 15 (1): 1–12.Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro and Sensenbrenner, Julia. 1993. “Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the Social Determinants of Economic Action.” American Journal of Sociology 98 (6): 1320–50.Google Scholar
Pretty, Jules and Ward, Hugh. 2001. “Social Capital and the Environment.” World Development 29 (2): 209–27.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2002. Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J. 2001. “Crime and Public Safety: Insights From Community-Level Perspectives on Social Capital.” In Social Capital and Poor Communities, vol. 3, ed. Saegart, Susan, Thompson, J. Phillip and Warren, Mark R.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 89–114.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., Morenoff, Jeffrey D. and Earls, Felton. 1999. “Beyond Social Capital: Spatial Dynamics of Collective Efficacy for Children.” American Sociological Review 65 (5): 633–60.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1970. “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics.” American Political Science Review 64 (4): 1033–53.Google Scholar
Shepsle, K. A. and Weingast, B. R.. 1981. “Structure-Induced Equilibrium and Legislative Choice.” Public Choice 37 (3): 503–19.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., Billig, M. G., Bundy, R. P. and Flament, C.. 1971. “Social Categorization and Intergroup Behaviour.” European Journal of Social Psychology 1 (2): 149–78.Google Scholar
Tefre, Øyvind Samnøy. 2010. Persistent Inequalities in Providing Security for People in South Africa—A Comparative Study of the Capacity of Three Communities in Hout Bay to Influence Policing. Master's thesis, Bergen, Norway: The University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Tefre, Øyvind Samnøy. 2014. “Security Governance in Hout Bay.” In Policing and the Politics of Order-Making, eds. Peter, Albrecht and Kyed, Helene Maria. Routledge, p. 143.Google Scholar
Tyler, Tom R and Fagan, Jeffrey. 2008. “Legitimacy and Cooperation: Why do People Help the Police Fight Crime in Their Communities.” Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 6: 231.Google Scholar
Uslaner, Eric M. 2012. Segregation and Mistrust: Diversity, Isolation, and Social Cohesion. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Whitt, Sam and Wilson, Rick K.. 2007. “The Dictator Game: Fairness and Ethnicity in Postwar Bosnia.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (3): 655–68.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Karreth supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Karreth supplementary material(File)
File 119 KB