Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Leerkes, Arjen
Author-Email: arjen.leerkes@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and Erasmus University
	 Rotterdam
Author-Name: Fokkema, Tineke
Author-Email: fokkema@nidi.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: NIDI, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and University of Groningen
Author-Name: Bening, Jonathan
Author-Email: jonathan.bening@gmail.com
Title: Community multiculturalism and self-reported immigrant crime: Testing three 
	 theoretical mechanisms
Abstract: There is considerable contextual variation in crime among immigrants and
	 their native-born descendants, and this study aims to understand that
	 variation better. It examines whether municipal variation in
	 self-reported crimes among Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch men living in 35
	 representative Dutch cities (N=911), including the four largest cities,
	 is associated with municipal variation in multicultural attitudes, or
	 'community multiculturalism', among the native-Dutch (N=2,556). We
	 propose, and test, a mechanism-based theoretical model that links
	 Berry's acculturation theory to general strain theory, social bonding
	 theory, and collective efficacy theory. Evidence is found for a
	 protective effect of community multiculturalism for immigrant crime,
	 which is mostly explained by collective efficacy theory with somewhat
	 weaker evidence for general strain theory and social bonding theory. We
	 discuss implications for the discussion on the (dis)advantages of
	 multiculturalism, and suggest various avenues for further inquiry into
	 immigrants' 'context of reception', and how the acculturation attitudes
	 among established groups affect social cohesion outcomes in multi-ethnic
	 societies. 
Classification-JEL: K13, I30, Y80, O15
Keywords: acculturation theory, immigrant crime, context of reception, local-level
	 variation, migration
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20201208
Number: 2020-055
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2020/wp2020-055.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2020055