Corruption and Population Heterogeneity: Does Demographic Diversity Foster Corruption in Communities?

• In Event: Structural Inequalities, Neighborhoods and Crime

Abstract

It has been suggested that increases in opportunities for corruption are correlated with greater population heterogeneity, such that greater racial, religious, and economic diversity within communities can have the effect of promoting public and private corruption (Ionescu, 2012). This effect may be due to diminished community cohesion resulting from more infrequent and less intimate interactions among community members who are separated along racial, religious, and economic lines. This paper will test whether and to what extent racial, religious, and economic diversity impacts corrupt behavior by examining a large southwestern US city. The metropolitan area will be analyzed at the neighborhood level, and will compare the number of public and private corruption cases prosecuted by the district attorney’s office to the demographic characteristics of their neighborhoods of origin. It is hypothesized that neighborhoods that are more economically, racially, and religiously diverse will also exhibit greater instances of public and private corruption. Implications are discussed.

Author

• Marcus Tyler Carey, Texas State University