Cosmopolitan social infrastructure and immigrant cross-ethnic friendship

Abstract

How do newcomers make cross-ethnic connections and friendships? This article investigates the role of associations as a location for making cross-ethnic friendships. Cosmopolitan social infrastructure includes public spaces, commercial establishments, and community organizations that attract a diversity of people into interaction. I look specifically at the importance of participation in cosmopolitan associations for cross-ethnic friendship. I approach these questions with an analysis of a nationally representative sample of Canadians collected as part of the Ethnic Diversity Survey. I find that participation in cosmopolitan associations is associated with having cross-ethnic friendship groups. To address the robustness of these findings, I use techniques from both longitudinal and treatment effects analysis. The findings suggest that cosmopolitan social infrastructure contributes to participants’ having cross-ethnic friendship groups.