The Effects of Social Capital on Tolerance toward Immigrants: The Case of Kawasaki City

Abstract

Prior research examining Japanese nationals’ tolerance toward immigrants have generally conceptualized tolerance from a single perspective. This paper argues that this existing approach overlooks the heterogeneous nature of Japanese nationals’ tolerance. In this study, I provide finer-grained analyses of the tolerance construct by further dividing it into tolerance in public and private spheres to capture its heterogeneity. To do so, I used survey data from Kawasaki City residents to investigate whether structural and cognitive social capital influence tolerance in private and public arenas. The results generally support my hypotheses: Bridging networks, generalized trust, and reciprocity play important roles in improving tolerance in both private and public spheres, whereas bonding networks and close ties with neighbors have negative effects. Also, the effects of structural social capital on tolerance are shown to be mediated by cognitive social capital.