Socialization networks and the transmission of interethnic attitudes

This paper examines the dynamics of interethnic attitudes in a framework of intergenerational transmission of continuous cultural traits, where children are exposed to parental (vertical) and non-parental (oblique) socializations. Under very general conditions over oblique socialization, vertical socialization ensures convergence, while the structure of oblique socialization determines the steady state class. In particular, the presence of specific socialization schemes, namely, ethnocentrism, emulation, and reciprocity, produces different outcomes in terms of integration or attitude ranking. Further, the model is applied to the US case by examining the observed ranking of attitudes and obtaining predictions on the possible attitude patterns. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.