CONTACT AND CHANGE

The Irony of Harmony: Examining how Experiences of Intergroup Contact can Undermine Potential for Social Change toward Equality

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Conflict and tensions between members of different groups are critical problems facing societies today. One of the most important contributions of social psychology for improving intergroup relations has been contact theory, which offers that cooperative and friendly intergroup encounters can improve attitudes between groups. The theory stimulated a vast amount of research and generated widespread optimism about the potential of creating more tolerant societies through contact interventions. Recently, however, prominent scholars have argued that while contact may be a successful tool for prejudice reduction, it may contribute little toward increasing social justice and group equality. These views, bringing together insights from social psychology, political science and sociology, drew attention to a disjuncture between the effects of contact and psychological foundations of social change. Although theorized about, these processes received sparse, and mainly correlational empirical support. The proposed research is the most detailed and most rigorous investigation yet of the consequences of intergroup contact for social change. It will be led by the applicant in close collaboration with a European collaborator and will involve a fully controlled laboratory study conducted in Israel, a longitudinal study in the U.S., and two cross-sectional studies in both India and Israel. Findings from this research, which would generalize across a variety of intergroup settings, are likely to have important theoretical as well as practical implications for interventions aimed at creating long-term social justice in societies marked by social inequality. The collaborative nature of the project involving experts residing in the US, the UK and India along with its interdisciplinary elements, is consistent with the aim of creating internationally competitive knowledge and developing ‘state of the art’, interdisciplinary research capacity within the EU.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A closer look at contact theory reveals challenges associated with the application of the theory, and ways in which these challenges can be overcome to advance justice and equality.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Conflicts and tension are critical problems facing society today. One way to improve intergroup relations is through intergroup contact, which involves cooperative and friendly encounters across group lines, which can improve attitudes.

Through vast research, a sense of optimism was generated by recognising a potential for creating more tolerant societies via contact interventions. However, there remains a significant amount of debate as to how effective contact is in terms of increasing social justice and group equality.

CONTACT AND CHANGE (The irony of harmony: Examining how experiences of intergroup contact can undermine potential for social change toward equality) was an EU-funded project that examined the consequences of intergroup contact for social change using a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach. Several studies were conducted in the first phases and results were published in high tier psychological journals. The studies involve diverse population including samples of Ethiopian Jews and of Ashkenazi-Jews in Israel, and Latinos in the United States. Furthermore, experimental designs were used in considering the role of group-based power in the dynamics of contact.

Findings revealed that members of high-status groups are motivated to take part in intergroup encounters that focus on commonalities. By contrast, low-status groups exhibit more desire to address topics relating to differences between groups. Moreover, findings provide compelling evidence for the effect of commonality-focused contact on inequality perceptions among members of both disadvantaged and advantaged groups. Specifically, results show that encounters that are focused on commonalities, can reduce awareness to inequality, and lessen resistance to social inequality. As such, it can impact the way people view and are dedicated to resolving social inequality.