Cohesion in Diversity. Diversity Barometer 2019 of the Robert Bosch Stiftung

The survey explored attitudes towards increasing diversity in German society and how individuals deal with it. The focus was on the importance of acceptance of diversity for social cohesion in the country. Acceptance of diversity was conceived as a multidimensional construct and recorded in terms of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic weakness, ethnic origin and religion. In addition, the personal and structural conditions for a high level of acceptance of diversity as well as the possibilities of promoting political and civil society influence on it were surveyed.

The cross-sectional data was collected between the beginning of May and mid-July 2018 within the framework of a standardised CATI survey. For this purpose, a dual-frame telephone selection frame of landline and mobile numbers in the ratio 55:45 provided by ADM was used. In order to provide a meaningful representation of the less populous federal states, a disproportionate country stratification was applied, which can be balanced by weighting. The selection of the target persons for fixed-network connections was carried out according to the last-birthday method, whereas for mobile connections the main user of the device was interviewed. The resulting sample comprises 3,025 randomly reached German-speaking persons and is representative of the resident population of the Federal Republic of Germany aged 16 and over. The interviews lasted an average of 34 minutes. Data collection was carried out by infas - Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH, Bonn.

The survey provides data on attitudes to diversity and its dimensions, to elites and people with different lifestyles, to politics and globalisation; and to the acceptance of diversity in one´s own environment (neighbourhood and family). Also recorded were perceptions of social cohesion; subjective well-being; personality traits; the experience of respect and discrimination; and socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the target persons.<br>Awareness of the term diversity in relation to society; life satisfaction; assessment of the economic situation in Germany and of one´s own economic situation; threat vs. enrichment of life by increasing diversity; agreement with various statements (most of the people I deal with in everyday life treat me with respect, I don´t get on so well with people who are significantly older or significantly younger than me, I definitely wouldn´t want to live in a multi-generational household, if you´re old, you´re old and shouldn´t always pretend to be young); statements on compassion (e.g. I experience myself as compassionate and caring towards people who are less fortunate than I am, etc.); opinion on living together with people of different cultural backgrounds (I would rather not live with foreigners than with people from other countries, etc.); opinion on living together with people of different cultural backgrounds (would rather have nothing to do with foreigners, people who come to Germany should be supported in keeping their cultural roots, I always learn something new when I am together with people from other countries); agreement with various statements about religion (there should also be legal holidays for the festivals of other religions, Islam definitely fits into the Western world, religion is a private matter and religious manifestations and symbols such as crucifixes, headscarves or kippahs have no place in public); BIG 5; opinion on gender roles (I am against a women´s quota, women make too much fuss about the issue of sexual harassment, a man has to assert himself otherwise he is not a real man, many women feel very comfortable in the victim role); attitude towards sexual orientation (transsexual people should keep to themselves, homosexuals and their own children - it just doesn´t go together, changing gender is against nature, it is disgusting when homosexuals kiss in public); frequency of feeling discriminated against; opinion on people with disabilities (I find many demands of disabled people excessive, inclusion disadvantages normally developed children, the sight of disabled people bothers me); agreement with the statement: politics works more for the interests of elites than for the needy; opinion regarding the behaviour of elites (top managers, intellectuals and super-rich); opinion regarding poverty in Germany (good social net in Germany, nobody needs to be homeless, most Hartz IV recipients are work-shy, too much consideration in society for failures); opinion on people with different lifestyles (enrich my neighbourhood, people who always walk around in suits or costumes are suspicious to me, vegans are absolute weirdos); globalisation personally more as a threat or as an opportunity; feelings about increasing diversity (anxious, calm, comfortable, relaxed, strained, restless, worried, content); acceptance of diversity in one´s own environment (neighbourhood and family) (people who are much older or younger, foreigners, househusbands, homosexuals, religious Muslims, disabled, very rich, welfare recipients, people with a completely different lifestyle); frequency of meetings with friends, acquaintances or privately with work colleagues; trust in other people; feeling of attachment to the city/country; strength of trust in the federal government; agreement with the statement: economic gains are by and large fairly distributed in Germany today; frequency of voluntary work; area in the immediate vicinity where one would not want to go alone at night; interest in politics; political right-left classification; self-assessment as happy at present, 5 years ago and in 5 years´ time; self-assessment of state of health; religiosity; sense of belonging to a religious community; religious community; frequency of private internet use and role of internet or social media; respect for most people one deals with in everyday life; events of the last few years make one feel really insecure; in Germany one is no longer allowed to freely express one´s opinion without getting into trouble; cohesion in Germany is endangered; assessment of cohesion in the neighbourhood; support or rejection of measures regarding diversity (lowering the voting age in the federal government to 14 years, immigration law with defined maximum limits for immigration, compulsory sex education in schools that explicitly teaches about all sexual orientations, Compulsory accessibility of all publicly accessible buildings, such as administration, schools, cafés or shopping centres, higher taxation of very high incomes and wealth, introduction of an unconditional basic income, burqa ban, compulsory for all pupils, including those with a migration background, to speak only German in the school day).

Demography: sex; age; marital status; children; number of children; household size; household composition (number of persons in the household from 0 to 15 years and from 16 years); current main occupation (employment status); education: Highest general education degree; Highest education degree; Number of books in household; Migration background; Country of birth Germany; Country of birth; German citizenship; Citizenship; Father and mother born in Germany; Country of birth of father and mother; Language spoken at home; Level of monthly household net income (open); Household net income categorised; Receipt of transfer payments in the last 12 months.

Additionally coded were: Interview number; subsample: landline or mobile; number of landline telephone numbers in household; number of mobile numbers where respondent can be reached in person; number of mobile numbers of other household members aged 16 and over; random variable (question on social cohesion measures to every third person); open response on social cohesion measures given; panel willingness; state; postcode named (mobile); IQ test: verbal competencies; weighting factor total sample; design weight.
The following regional characteristics were also added to the data set: Political municipality size class, BBR region type (new), Eurostat urban-rural division.