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Dixon, John; Durrheim, Kevin; Thomae, Manuela; Tredoux, Colin; Kerr, Philippa and Quayle, Michael
(2015).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12129
Abstract
Racial segregation encourages members of historically advantaged groups to form negative intergroup attitudes, which then motivate practices of discrimination that sustain inequality and disadvantage. By implication, interventions designed to increase intergroup contact have been proposed as a means of reducing dominant group prejudices and promoting social change. In this article, we highlight another mechanism through which segregation shapes intergroup relations, namely, by inhibiting political solidarity between historically disadvantaged groups. Building on a field survey conducted in postapartheid South Africa, we demonstrate how challenging this form of segregation may reveal alternative mechanisms through which intergroup contact facilitates social change. Notably, we report evidence that positive contact with Black residents of an informal settlement in Pietermaritzburg was associated with Indian residents’ support for political policies and forms of collective action that might improve conditions in that settlement. In addition, we show that such support was partly mediated by perceptions of collective discrimination.
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About
- Item ORO ID
- 48072
- Item Type
- Journal Item
- ISSN
- 1540-4560
- Project Funding Details
-
Funded Project Name Project ID Funding Body Divide and rule, unite and resist: Effects of intergroup contact on the political solidarity of historically disadvantaged groups Not Set British Academy - Keywords
- contact; racism; South African; political solidarity
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Psychology and Counselling > Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Psychology and Counselling
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) - Copyright Holders
- © 2015 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
- Depositing User
- John Dixon