science

List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level

List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level, as per Fearon's analysis. Methodology The lists are commonly used in economics and cultural literature to compare the levels of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious fractionalization in different countries.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

This is a list of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level, as per Fearon's analysis.

Methodology The lists are commonly used in economics and cultural literature to compare the levels of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious fractionalization in different countries. Fractionalization is the probability that two individuals drawn randomly from the country's groups are not from the same group (ethnic, religious, or whatever the criterion is). In Fearon's analysis, only groups containing over one percent of the country's population were considered. This limit made Papua New Guinea an outlier; as none of its thousands of groups included more than one percent of the population, it was considered to have zero groups and thus have a perfect fractionalization score of 1. The two lists have been described by Alesina and La Ferrara as follows:

Fearon and Alesina et al. have compiled various measures of ethnic heterogeneity which try to tackle the fact that the difference amongst groups manifests itself in different ways in different places. The two classifications are constructed differently. Alesina et al. do not take a stand on what ethnicity (or language or religion) are more salient than others and adopt the country breakdown suggested by original sources, mainly the Encyclopædia Britannica. Fearon instead is trying to construct the 'right list' of ethnic groups which 'depends on what people in the country identify as the most socially relevant ethnic groupings'. This approach has the advantage of being closer to what the theory would want and the disadvantage of having to make judgement calls (or adopt others' judgement calls) about what is the 'right list'.

List based on Fearon's analysis In the Fearon list, cultural fractionalization is approximated by a measure of similarity between languages, varying from 1 = the population speaks two or more unrelated languages to 0 = the entire population speaks the same language. This index of cultural diversity is biased towards linguistic variations as opposed to genetic diversity and other variations. It should also be noted that the date of collection for data regarding ethnicity varies drastically between countries from 1981 to 2001 while data for linguistic and religious fractionalisation was collected in 2001.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level

In research: List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cultural geography, Demographic lists, Lists of countries, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level in simple terms?

This is a list of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level, as per Fearon's analysis. Methodology The lists are commonly used in economics and cultural literature to compare the levels of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious fractionalization in different countries.

Why does List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level.