Riots and social capital in urban India

Arbeitspapier

This paper explores the relationship between household exposure to riots and social capital in urban India using a panel dataset collected by the authors in the state of Maharashtra. The analysis applies a random-effect model with lagged covariates to estimate the exogenous effect of riots on social capital. Households living in neighbourhoods prone to riots are more likely to invest in bridging social capital by joining community organizations but reduce face-to-face contact with neighbours. These effects are driven largely by levels of neighbourhood social fragmentation in riot-prone neighbourhoods. There, the salience of social identity is also reduced as individuals attempt to reach out across social divisions. We interpret these results as indicating that households instrumentally use bridging forms of social capital as an insurance against potential future communal violence in socially fragmented contexts where conflicting social groups live alongside each other.

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• ISBN: 978-92-9256-799-6
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2020/42

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations ; Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
• Subject: riots ; social capital ; trust ; bonding social capital ; bridging social capital ; vignettes ; violence

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Aghajanian, Alia ; Justino, Patricia ; Tranchant, Jean-Pierre
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/799-6
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/229266