TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bisin, Alberto
AU  - Patacchini, Eleonora
AU  - Verdier, Thierry
AU  - Zenou, Yves
TI  - Bend It Like Beckham: Ethnic Identity and Integration
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16465
PY  - 2010
Y2  - October 2010
DO  - 10.3386/w16465
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16465
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16465.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Alberto Bisin
Department of Economics
New York University
19 West 4th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10012
Tel: 212/998-8916
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: alberto.bisin@nyu.edu

Eleonora Patacchini
Department of Economics
Cornell University  
430 Uris Hall  
Ithaca, NY 14853
E-Mail: ep454@cornell.edu

Thierry Verdier
PSE
and Ecole des Ponts-Paris Tech
and PUC-Rio
48 Boulevard Jourdan
75014 Paris, France
E-Mail: verdier@pse.ens.fr

Yves Zenou
Department of Economics
Monash University
Caulfield VIC 3145
Australia
E-Mail: yves.zenou@monash.edu
AB  - We propose a theoretical framework to study the determinants of ethnic and religious identity along two distinct motivational processes which have been proposed in the social sciences: cultural conformity and cultural distinction. Under cultural conformity, ethnic identity is reduced by neighborhood integration, which weakens group loyalties and prejudices. On the contrary, under cultural distinction, ethnic minorities are more motivated in retaining their own distinctive cultural heritage the more integrated are the neighborhoods where they reside and work. Data on ethnic preferences and attitudes provided by the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities in the UK enables us to test the relative significance of these two identity processes. We find evidence consistent with intense ethnic and religious identity mostly formed as a cultural distinction mechanism. Consistently, we document that ethnic identities are more intense in mixed than in segregated neighborhoods.
ER  -