http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/19/nrace119.xml

People in ethnically mixed areas are less trusting of their neighbours
and live a more isolated existence, research from a New Labour "guru"
has found.

The greater the diversity, the looser the community bonds and the more
withdrawn local residents become, says Robert Putnam, an American
academic based at Harvard.

Prof Putnam's research shows that people who live in such areas
retreat into their shells. They spend more time watching television,
volunteer less and take little part in community activity.

But where "social capital" is greater, children grow up healthier,
safer and better educated. People in more homogeneous communities also
have longer, happier lives and democracy and the economy work better.

The approach of Prof Putnam - who is visiting professor at Manchester
University - is proving influential with Government ministers.

His work is behind a spate of recent announcements about the need for
greater "cohesion", and Gordon Brown's emphasis on national identity.

After presiding over the highest levels of immigration in the
country's history, Labour has begun to show deep concern about its
effects. This week, a new forum will start to consider the impact of
large-scale immigration on communities.

For the first time, doctors, teachers, councillors, businessmen and
others in front-line services feeling the strain of increased
population will have a say.

Prof Putnam's latest findings are the outcome of a five-year study
into the impact of immigration and diversity on America.

While he says that immigration in the long term has a positive impact,
its short-term consequences should not be ignored.

"Diversity does not produce bad race relations or ethnically defined
group hostility," Prof Putnam says in an article setting out his
findings. "Rather, inhabitants of diverse communities tend to withdraw
from collective life, to distrust their neighbours regardless of the
colour of their skin, to withdraw even from close friends, to expect
the worst from their community and its leaders, to volunteer less,
give less to charity and work on community projects less often, to
register to vote less, to agitate for social reform more, but have
less faith that they can make a difference."

He added: "The impact of diversity is definitely greater among whites,
but is visible as well among non-whites."

Prof Putnam said America showed that large-scale migration can be
successfully accommodated in the long term, though he conceded it is a
new experience for Europe.

He stressed the importance of "civil nationalism" of the sort invented
in America at the end of the 19th century to replace ethnic
nationalisms introduced by immigration.

"In a rapidly diversifying country, native-born citizens are unnerved
by what they perceive as new and "different," he said.

"In the long run, successful immigrant societies overcome
fragmentation by creating new forms of social solidarity, and more
encompassing identities. This has been done through popular culture,
education, national symbols, and common experiences."