Daniel A. Cox and others report,
More than three-quarters (77 percent) of white Americans report that their core social network includes only people who are also white. More than six in 10 (64 percent) black Americans have social networks composed entirely of people who are also black. Less than half of Asian Americans (49 percent) and Hispanic Americans (43 percent) have core social networks that include only members of their own race or ethnic background.
Most partisans have close social ties that reflect their political predispositions. A majority (54 percent) of Republicans report that their core social network is exclusively composed of Donald Trump supporters. The pattern is nearly identical among Democrats.
Recall the cliche that you are the average of your five closest friends.
Have fun, Arnold. Please relate the analysis and conclusions of the paper you referred to in your post to Tyler’s vision on Hayekian behavioral economics in his post a few hours ago; see
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/10/hayekian-behavioral-economics.html
Definition “core social network” in the article:
To identify members of a core social network, respondents were required to name people with whom they “discussed important personal matters or concerns” in the previous six months, regardless of the nature of the relationship or the frequency of interaction.
I’m not sure that for most people this will go beyond family.
On the other hand, it might include one’s doctor, lawyer, financial advisor, psychiatrist, or other paid consultant.
But, let’s be honest here. The vast majority of us on this blog only hang out with college graduates (only 30% of the population) whose racial composition is white, Asian, Indian or Jewish. We are in an un-diverse bubble and there is probably no getting around this.
No. My wife is black american that looks like Serena Williams with a prettier face. I’m a nerdy Trump loving white guy. My neighbors are mostly ultra-left wing college educated white people. I got an engineering degree as a part time student at a much older age where I really wasn’t supposed to be part of the social experience. My formative years were very much outside of college educated circles. We are all living in bubbles. I definitely am, but not the affluent college educated white/asian bubble you described.
I’d be interested in hearing others chime in as well besides Niko and Hans. It’s hard to tell exactly what the demographics of askblog readers are.
Presumably the readers of this blog tend to be brainy and with a very high level of reading proficiency. Also I suspect the commenters have some sort of desk job rather than (say) construction foreman or truck driver. It seems like many comment during their work day (if they are working a day shift).
Another thing–I wonder how many people who read this are below the median age of Americans, which is about 38.
My age: mid 1950s
My zip code: 14618
My education: Ph.D. I’m not using (social sciences)
Most of the people I interact with are college educated and often with graduate degrees, though many my closest friends bailed out or flamed out of academia, or took forever to get a bachelors degree for one reason or another.
I wouldn’t say I have close friends who are Black Americans, though there are some that I banter with.
There was a time when I knew a lot of Nigerians in particular and Black Africans, more generally, in academia. Especially Yoruba, though it varies.
= – = – = – = – =
It is interesting the way the term “social distance” changed its semantic meaning. There is an older meaning of “social distance” which denotes how unlike other people you are in terms of residence, religion, class, language, customs and mores, etc.
That older meaning of “social distance” was highly useful–we probably need a new term.
de facto racial segregation is a thing in my metropolitan statistical area. Occasionally someone will come to Rochester NY from a different part of the country (California or the South) and comment that it’s the most segregated place they’ve seen. They might be exaggerating slightly.
Thanks for listening–sorry to be verbose. It’s often hard to tell when the “phenomenology” of the lived experience is interesting to others, and when we are just boring our audience.
Thanks – I too would enjoy reading more insights like yours (and Niko’s) from other commenters on their bubbles (or lack thereof)!
I’m a computer programmer. I studied Resource Economics in college and was not a great student. My wife is from Honduras she has no degrees beyond high school. Our best friends in town (I have some old college friends but they live far away) are a couple from Nigeria. Another close friend who I see often (at least before covid) got a GED.
One of my two son’s is an engineer and the other is a plumber who learned plumbing on the job, no schooling beyond high school, not even plumbing school as he hated school.
I think I hang with a diverse crowd.
But, let’s be honest here. The vast majority of us on this blog only hang out with college graduates (only 30% of the population) whose racial composition is white, Asian, Indian or Jewish. We are in an un-diverse bubble and there is probably no getting around this.
This is certainly true of my life now as a STEM professor. But I grew up lower middle class, worked in seedy bars and restaurants, worked at thoroughbred horse race tracks, spent 6 years as an enlisted man in the USN, and have been self-supporting since I was 19. The America I have experienced is a fundamentally good place. Also, the people I knew while I was in the military were, for the most part, better people than the ones I have known in academia, with a few exceptions.
Thanks – enjoyed reading! It would be helpful to understand your approximate age and location as well.
The (unstated) assumptions in my statement:
1) to regularly read and comment on a blog of this nature requires at least a college degree + a lot of intellectual curiosity.
(I barely meet these prerequisites)
2) A college degree is highly correlated with class.
3) people tend to self segregate based primarily on class and, as of now, class also has a significant ethnic component (whether you wish to acknowledge it or not).
And, I should clarify that certainly I didn’t intend to imply that non-college graduates are bad, lacking in value, or anything like that. Quite the contrary and sorry if I did.
My age: 1975 (45)
My zip code: 76092 (North Texas; super zip, but by no means the best in the area).
My education: B.S. Accounting (still using).
My affiliation: silly MAGA conservative, but my comments are my own and represent my silly feeble mind.
I think the study just proved that Trump supporters live in less diverse rural and suburban areas while Democrats live in more diverse cities. Color me unsurprised.
Where I live, in my particular suburb, I see almost no Trump signs. I think peer pressure and social shaming prevents many people from displaying them, or they get vandalized or stolen. The “shy Trump voter” thing is real, in part because Trump’s many character faults have led him to be thoroughly demonized by a vocal and sanctimonious segment of the Left.
“Where I live, in my particular suburb, I see almost no Trump signs.”
Exact opposite here in North Texas (DFW). Our unofficial audit has it at ~80% Trump signs vs. Biden signs.
That said, I agree with your analysis on the “shy Trump voter,” particularly in places like Rochester, NY. We have a Trump sign, but refused to put it out with our other red signs just because he is so alienating. But, we still voted for him…and he will likely lose.
And even there the difference between white Republicans and Democrats is not all that great as might be projected: “Seventy-three percent of white Democrats and 81 percent of white Republicans report having a core social network composed entirely of other white people“
What was surprising was the contraction of social networks:
“More than twice as many Americans today report having no close social connection than reported this seven years earlier (Table 1). In 2013, only 8 percent of Americans reported that they had no close social contacts—someone with whom they talked about an important issue or concern.[5] At the same time, more people today report having at least five members of their inner social circle than did so in 2013. Thirty-eight percent of Americans have at least five members in their core social network, compared to 30 percent who reported this in 2013.
The rise in the number of Americans reporting they have no one who is part of their core social network is partly attributable to the coronavirus pandemic, which has severely disrupted much of American life, including the frequency and character of social interactions. One in three (33 percent) Americans who say they have no one with whom they have discussed important personal matters in the past six months report that this is due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, the majority say this is not the reason they did not identify any members of their core social network.”
Cox mysteriously pronounces smaller social networks “more polarized.” No idea where that comes from.
There is nothing diverse about living in a highly white/asian neighborhood in a largely black/hispanic city. Those people four blocks away might as well be on the other side of the moon.
As some lone man who in a desart hears
The music of his home:—unwonted fears
Fell on the pale oppressors of our race,
And Faith, and Custom, and low-thoughted cares,
Like thunder-stricken dragons, for a space
Left the torn human heart, their food and dwelling-place.
-Shelley
Cox’s purple prose and absolutes are off-putting and reek of wokeness. He intones garbage like:
“There is no greater disagreement between Democrats and Republicans than over the extent to which black people experience discrimination.”
and
“Social ties are not developed haphazardly. Rather, the composition of social networks is determined by individual preferences and the broader social milieu. “
Sorry. Not buying it.
Let’s look at the methodology. A nice weighted, random sample we are assured. Geographically? In 1950, the USA was 90% non-Hispanic or Latino white, now done to 61.3%. An assurance that every state is represented is one thing, but consider how many states are still over 90% white: Maine (the whitest at 93.4%,), Vermont (93%), West Virginia 92.1%), New. Hampshire (90.4%) and Montana (86.3%), Iowa (86.1%), and Kentucky (84.3%) not far behind. The 10th whitest state, South Dakota, is 82.2 nonHispanic, non-Latino white. There are 60 million Hispanics in the US with over 4 million in Los Angeles county alone. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 53 percent of Hispanics chose “white ” as their race, while 36 percent chose “some other race.” So the bizarre ethnic designation of “Hispanic,” unique to the USA, renders the whole enterprise suspect before even beginning to consider geographic demographic heterogeneity, or the role of independents, undecideds, and ticket-splitters.
No, this is building data to fit a moralistic narrative: whites and Republicans choose to be bad people. Joe Biden says he attended services at Black churches. Hurray for the Great Role Model! Nothing new there. The USA is so boring.
Perhaps if we reflect back on our great populist heritage to the time of the levellers who objected to the division of society by favored and disfavored category. They set in motion the events leading to the Glorious Revolution and the equality of humankind. Let us conjure Milton’s prayer for the leadership of Black Tom Fairfax:
Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings
Filling each mouth with envy, or with praise,
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze
And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings;
Thy firm unshak’n virtue ever brings
Victory home, though new rebellions raise
Their hydra heads, and the false north displays
Her brok’n league, to imp their serpent wings:
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand;
For what can war but endless war still breed?
Till Truth and Right from Violence be freed,
And Public Faith clear’d from the shameful brand
Of Public Fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed
While Avarice and Rapine share the land.
How shall this populist movement reignite?
Turning back to geography, the veracity of George Mason’s prophecy is proven anew each day in the USA with every new critical race/anti-white hate studies outrage:
“there never was a government over a very extensive country without destroying the liberties of the people…Is there a single example on the face of the earth to support a contrary opinion?”
The time is now to dissolve the federal ties that grant faction license to harass every free man in every village.
Who will lead us to independence and
freedom against the totalitarian menace?
My observation, and BTW my wife is from Honduras & we have many Hispanic friends, there is really only one minority blacks and therefore only two groups that matter in the USA blacks and non-blacks.
And with more black non-black intermarriage that is also fading, but slowly.