Does mixing more really tackle prejudice?

Does mixing more with others really help address prejudice? Photo / File

Does mixing more with others really help address prejudice?

A new study, co-authored by a New Zealand researcher, suggests that encouraging people to get out and interact with those from different backgrounds might not be as effective as previously thought.

What's known as the "contact hypothesis" involves people from different groups in society interacting and talking with each other, which then theoretically helps to reduce stereotypes and prejudice as a result.

"It's an approach that has been supported by a lot of studies, and it's widely accepted and is now being used around the world as a way to reduce prejudice," explained Associate Professor Ronald Fischer, of Victoria University's School of Psychology.

"The hypothesis takes into account the conditions that may favour positive outcomes for reducing prejudice, such as matching the status of those involved in the interaction, but a criticism of it is that it hasn't taken into account the wider societal inequality."

The new paper, just published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, analysed 660 studies conducted across 36 countries to solve the question.

"We know that around the world there are countries that are more egalitarian or more hierarchical, so we wanted to test the impact that the wider society had on the effectiveness of this strategy."

The researchers assessed the degree of inequality in the 36 countries in the study by using two measures.

The first, the Social Dominance Orientation scale, asked citizens to rate whether they believe all groups are equal, and the second, the Schwartz Value Survey, looked at how highly people value principles of equality.

Ultimately, the researchers found inequality could have a strong influence.

"It's a strategy that works well in more egalitarian societies - those that are more equal and value equality," Fischer said.

"On the other hand, in societies where there is less equality, or it is less valued, the impact of intergroup interaction was less effective at reducing prejudice, and at times could even have the opposite effect."

A complicating factor was that not only were there differences between societies, but also individual societies were not fixed, and over time both the degree of equality and the importance placed on equality could vary.

"We started this project on the Contact Hypothesis because we wanted to use social psychology to understand, and help address, some of the big problems in society.

"The results of this study can help us better understand some of the contributing factors in what drives inequality and prejudice."