Article on Diversity and Social Capital Accepted for Publication! September 23, 2012 9:15 pm My joint work with Birte Gundelach “Beyond Generalized Trust: Norms of Reciprocity as an Alternative Form of Social Capital in an Assimilationist Integration Regime” got accepted for publication in Political Studies. Here’s the abstract: Scholars have recently stressed two important avenues for the study of cultural diversity and social capital – the role of political integration regimes as well as alternative indicators to generalized trust. This paper addresses both. Focusing on Germany, it provides the first study of the relationship between cultural diversity and social capital in a country implementing an “assimilationist” model of integration. As a further innovation, the paper contrasts social trust with an alternative, yet often neglected form of social capital, namely norms of reciprocity. Results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and using multilevel analyses of 97 German regions suggest a negative relationship between cultural diversity and social trust in Germany. Assimilationist policies have not (yet) led to efficient integration of minority groups and a value convergence which could bridge cultural divides. Nevertheless, cultural diversity does not erode the commitment to norms of reciprocity, which may therefore be regarded as an alternative foundation of social cohesion in culturally diverse societies. Keywords: social capital, trust, reciprocity, diversity, integration regime, multilevel analysis.