5226435
Description
Flashcards by Linda Trickett, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Linda Trickett
over 8 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Prejudice, Conflict and Conflict Reduction | Contact Theory: Interaction between groups (such as through increased contact) helps to improve relationships between groups and lead to reduced prejudice and conflict. |
| Contact hypothesis - the dominant approach to conflict reduction. | Paradox: Interactions can have a positive or negative effect and there are no guarantees that living in a diverse environment leads to diversity being embraced. (Allport, 1954) |
| 3 Models of Contact Theory | 1) Decategorisation - Brewer & Miller (1984) 2) Pluralist Model - Hewstone & Brown (1986) 3) Recategorisation - Gaertneer & Dovidio (2000) |
| Decategorisation Model of Contact Brewer & Miller (1984) | Contact works best when it occurs in contexts where group differences are de-emphasised. We grow to know people as individuals rather than as representatives of social categories. Contact becomes personalised and with increased intimacy of the individual category identity is replaced as being most useful for classification. |
| Pluralist Model of Contact Hewstone & Brown (1986) | Contact must be an intergroup process to be successful. Participants see each other as representatives of their social categories. Translates to a policy of multiculturalism - institutional reforms favour 'mutual differentiation' where group differences are celebrated. (Permeates through schools) Mutual differentiation MAY turn into plain prejudice. |
| Recategorisation Model of Contact Gaertneer & Davidio (2000) | Proposes realignment of group boundaries. Contact has most influence when promoting an ingroup identity which encourages members to see themselves as members of a shared group - WE rather than US and THEM. Can lead to a decrease in prejudice. |
| STRENGTHS OF CONTACT THEORY | Firmly established as an effective strategy for improving intergroup relations. Implicity and explicitly it continues to inform public policy in many societies (including the UK) |
| Contact theory & Social change | Contact theory can offer a blueprint for social change based on rehabilitation of the prejudiced individual. if contact experienced under favourable conditions negative attitudes towards others can be changed. |
| Cantle Report: Summer of Violence 2001 - Bradford UK Report on the need for greater contact and 'community cohesion' | Report found main cause of conflict 'depth of polarisation' between ethnic communities. People 'living parallel lives'. |
| Cantle Report: Recommendations | 1. proposed interventions to encourage interaction and exchange between ethnic communities. 2. proposed creation of a common sense of national and local citizenship - common values and identity required to be established. |
| Is the contact hypothesis idealistic? | Research has focussed on lab conditions or specialised situations since optimal conditions are seldom found ready made in the real world. Knowledge gained from these type of studies may hide the realities of everyday interactions between group members. No explanation given on how to create optimal conditions in real life. |
| Can interpersonal contact change intergroup relations and perceptions? | Contact theory relies too heavily on individualism. Effects of contact may not generalise to shape intergroup perceptions. Contact may lead to regard individuals as 'exceptions to the rule' and not abandon stereotype systems. |
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