The diversity Wave: A meta-analysis of the native-born white response to ethnic diversity

Does ethnic diversity increase or reduce white threat perceptions? Meta-analyses help orient a ?eld and communicate ?ndings to policymakers. We

report the results of a meta-analysis of studies measuring the relationship between ethnic context and both opposition to immigration and support

for anti-immigration parties. Our analysis attempts to be exhaustive, and is based on 171 post-1995 studies averaging 25,000 observations each, a

knowledge base of over 4 million data points. We ? nd a linear association between ethnic change and elevated threat. However, for diversity levels,

the relationship between ethnic context and threat is nonlinear. This takes the form of a 'wave', with higher diversity predicting threat responses at

the smallest and largest scales, whereas in units of 5000–10,000 people (such as tracts or neighbourhoods), diversity is associated with reduced

threat.