What difference does civil society make?

Exploring relationships between social cohesion and associational life in the context of ethnic and religious diversity.

This project will explore the impact of variations in the presence, nature and extent of civil society activity on intergroup conflicts and tensions in disadvantaged communities in England. Specifically, it considers the effects of initiatives implemented by the Near Neighbours programme, which are designed to build social cohesion and strengthen civil society at the local level. Near Neighbours originated from work by the Church Urban Fund (CUF) which for 30 years has been in the vanguard of faith-based responses to issues of deprivation and social cohesion.

Key research questions
1. What impacts do community-level variations in the distribution of civil society organisations have on social cohesion? This will build on existing secondary analyses of relationships between ethnic heterogeneity, disadvantage, and social cohesion by incorporating indicators of the distribution of civil society associations at the local level, following Sampson on collective efficacy.
2. What kinds of civil society activity help build cohesion between people of different ethnic backgrounds or religious beliefs? To what extent do faith-based organisations make a distinctive contribution to such activities, and in what ways does religious belief facilitate or obstruct such cohesion?
3. 'What works' in terms of strengthening civil society in a way that builds social cohesion between people of different ethnic backgrounds or religious beliefs, in local communities? And what particular challenges does faith-based engagement pose for civil society and policy contexts?

Methodology
A mixed methods approach is proposed, including analysis of secondary quantitative data and in-depth qualitative research in local communities across England. We envisage the following main strategies:

1. Quantitative analyses of relevant survey datasets (e.g. Crime Survey, Understanding Society) to which indicators of organisational distribution have been linked which are of relevance to exploring contextual influences on perceptions of social cohesion and social tension. This work will also contextualise data on the analyses of the Near Neighbours administrative data.
2. Quantitative analyses of two novel data sources which Near Neighbours will make available:
a. administrative and survey data on the Near Neighbours programme, which provides a unique research resource including data on 1,400+ local projects which bring together people of different faiths or ethnicities, and
b. survey data about social action by parish churches and about church leaders' perceptions of social cohesion and interaction in their communities (to be provided by Church Urban Fund (CUF), of which Near Neighbours is a subsidiary). This will provide novel insights into local-level variations in social action and perceptions of social cohesion.
3. Opportunity for qualitative/ethnographic research, spending time in a variety of communities and conducting interviews or focus groups with community members and those engaged in local civil society organisations. The quantitative analyses will provide a basis for selection of appropriate case studies.