Is Cultural Diversity Bad?

A study conducted by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam suggests that diversity hurts civic life and that differences can actually translate into distrust. The political scientist and author explains his findings on the flip-side of cultural diversity.

I'm not surprised about this finding. One basic idea in group work is that while diversity in a group is beneficial regarding the task, diversity requires more psychological work to be done in the group.

There were two social psychological topics touched upon. First, Putnam was talking about the stress of living in a diverse environment. Stanley Milgram talked about stimulus overload among city dwellers (because of the social stimulus city dwellers experience, they "turn off" and ignore much of the environment) and I'm surprised that Putnam never heard of it. Second, when Putnam was talking about the mega-church he was describing using a superordinate identity allow people of different backgrounds to -- literally -- ignore their differences.