Exploring the Goodhart thesis at the local scale: neighbourhood social heterogeneity and perceptions of quality of life in the British Crime Survey

• Start date: 01 February 2008
• End date: 31 October 2009

The question of socioeconomic heterogeneity in the UK has received much recent attention and some influential commentators have argued that, in ethnically heterogeneous neighbourhoods, trust, altruism and cooperation are all lower than in more homogeneous places.

This project aims to explore the consequences of segregation for people's attitudes and perceptions of quality of life. For example, are those living in heterogeneous neighbourhoods more or less likely to perceive lower or higher levels of anti-social behaviour? Are they more or less fearful of using public space (eg going out after dark)?

This research will analyse the British Crime Survey, an annual study of 40,000 individuals, which as well as seeking information about people's experiences of crime also poses questions about their quality of life (eg perceptions of neighbourhood safety or of antisocial behaviour). We will link to the BCS a selection of statistics from the 2001 Census for small geographical areas which we will use to calculate measures of socioeconomic heterogeneity. We will analyse what characteristics of individuals and places are associated with perceptions of quality of life and specifically whether there is evidence that neighbourhood homogeneity or heterogeneity has an effect on people's perceived quality of life.