What difference does civil society make?

在种族和宗教多元化的背景下探索社会凝聚力和社团生活之间的关系。本项目将探索民间社会活动的存在、性质和程度的变化对英格兰弱势社区群体间冲突和紧张关系的影响。具体而言，它审议了近邻方案实施的举措的影响，这些举措的目的是在地方一级建立社会凝聚力和加强民间社会。Near Neighbors起源于教会城市基金会(CUF)的工作，该基金会30年来一直是以信仰为基础回应剥夺和社会凝聚力问题的先锋。民间社会组织在社区一级的分布差异对社会凝聚力有什么影响？这将建立在对族裔异质性、弱势群体和社会凝聚力之间关系的现有二级分析的基础上，纳入关于民间社会协会在地方一级的分布情况的指标，遵循桑普森的集体效力。哪些民间社会活动有助于在不同种族背景或宗教信仰的人之间建立凝聚力？以信仰为基础的组织在多大程度上对这种活动做出了独特的贡献，宗教信仰在哪些方面促进或阻碍了这种凝聚力？在加强民间社会、在不同种族背景或宗教信仰的人之间、在当地社区建立社会凝聚力方面，“什么是有效的”？基于信仰的参与对公民社会和政策背景构成了什么特别的挑战？方法论提出了一种混合方法，包括分析二级定量数据和在英格兰各地的当地社区进行深入的定性研究。我们预计的主要策略如下：1.对相关的调查数据集(例如，犯罪调查、了解社会)进行量化分析，并将组织分布的指标与之联系起来，这与探索背景对社会凝聚力和社会紧张的看法的影响有关。这项工作还将使分析近邻行政数据的数据与背景联系起来。A.邻舍方案的行政和调查数据，该方案提供独特的研究资源，包括1,400多个将不同信仰或种族的人聚集在一起的地方项目的数据；b.关于教区教会的社会行动以及教会领袖对其社区社会凝聚力和互动的看法的调查数据(由教会城市基金(CUF)提供，Near Neighbors是其附属机构)。这将为地方一级的社会行动和社会凝聚力观念的变化提供新的见解。有机会进行定性/人种学研究，花时间在不同的社区，并与社区成员和参与当地民间社会组织的人进行访谈或焦点小组。定量分析将为选择适当的案例研究提供依据。

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 questions1. 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?MethodologyA 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.