Social integration and the relationship of normative plurality with it

One of the most important factors affecting social development is the social integration of societies. Sociologists have identified several factors as contributing factors. One of the most important of these is the cultural characteristics of societies, the status  of normative plurality or normative conflict and how they are dealt with in societies. Theoretical literature proposes various models of its effect on social integration. This paper argues that societies with greater levels of plurality or normative conflict appear to have lower levels of integration. In order to test this claim, a comparative study was conducted using secondary data. For this purpose, data from WVS, (2015,1995) World Values Survey, Minorities at Risk, International Religious Freedom, Data World Bank and International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) are used. The data period of this study is from 1995 to 2015 covering 109 countries. The results showed that: societies with a high degree of normative plurality or conflict have a low degree of social integration. The form of the relationship between these two variables for both total plurality and Components for its constituents has been almost linear. North American countries had the highest integration and the lowest normative plurality and conflict. And African countries, on the contrary, have a higher degree of normative plurality and conflict and a lower degree of integration. Iran is ranked 87th out of 109 countries in terms of social integration and 31st out of 61 countries in terms of plurality and normative conflict.