Summing up, this study tempers overly optimistic visions of civic associations' ability to bridge ethnic divides.

For more detailed discussions about the main insights, I encourage you to dive into the paper 😊

I find no evidence that participation in organisations with out-group members translates into more cross-ethnic contacts in the broader neighbourhood or in the likelihood of having cross-ethnic friendships.

The results are largely similar for both ethnic majority and minority groups.

Participation in leisure organisations comprising out-group members, however, does increase cross-ethnic contacts—but only within the associational setting.

You can see the results in the figure.

As expected, participation in leisure organisations comprising mainly in-group members fails to strengthen cross-ethnic integration.

I look at three outcomes: (1) cross-ethnic personal contacts within associations, (2) cross-ethnic contacts in the broader neighbourhood, and (3) cross-ethnic friendships.

I estimate how much participation in these different types of organisations improves cross-ethnic relations between ethnic majority and minority individuals.

Empirically, I use lagged dependent variable (LDV) and fixed effects (FE) models on two-wave panel data from the Netherlands.

For this reason, I distinguish between participation in leisure organisations comprising mainly ethnic in-group members and leisure organisations with ethnic out-group members.

One challenge is that associations are often ethnically segregated, as shown in recent research by @kasimirdederichs.bsky.social and @dingemanwiertz.bsky.social.

Hence, we need to pay attention to the ethnic composition of the associations people participate in.

It's a widespread idea that leisure organisations like sports or cultural associations are "integration vehicles" because they can unite people of various backgrounds around shared interests and activities. However, the empirical basis of this idea is limited.