Introduction
Interactions between different groups, societies, and cultures are crucial topics to research and describe. The articles that cover these issues try to correlate such interactions in the present or past to the decisions made by people from different cultural environments. Some are more aggressive to others, and some feel threatened or underrepresented. Intergroup contact is viewed and investigated from different perspectives, but all three articles reach similar conclusions about this complicated topic.
Discussion
“Recent Advances in Intergroup Contact Theory” (Pettigrew et al., 2011) is an article that analyzes the topic of intergroup contact, its effect on people, and the level of prejudice. It uses research made by other authors with different opinions on this topic. Besides, the article offers constructive criticism of the theory, allowing the reader to form his critical view on a given topic. Intergroup contact has been studied as a social psychology topic from this discipline’s early beginnings. One of this study’s most crucial questions is whether intergroup contact reduces prejudice. The authors concluded that intergroup contact generally has positive effects, such as a lower level of prejudice, but this does not apply to all cases, and there are many exceptions. An example of such stressful contact is a checkpoint on the Palestinian West Bank, where neither Israel soldiers nor the Palestinians have chosen to be in this situation and are unwilling to interact with each other more than needed (Pettigrew et al., 2011). So, the article asks why such stressful intergroup contacts are covered much less than positive ones.
“The Racial and Economic Context of Trump Support: Evidence for Threat, Identity, and Contact Effects in the 2016 Presidential Election” (Knowles & Tropp, 2018) is an article that explores the associations between demographic diversities, economic situation, and the support of Donald Trump among White Americans. The authors surveyed the responders, which were 1,728 non-Hispanic White Americans of all genders (Knowles & Tropp, 2018). The authors asked people not only whether they support Trump but also about group threat, White identification, and intergroup contact. The results show that the concepts of group threat and White identifications were positively associated with Trump support. Such results were expected, knowing that a high level of White identification usually correlates with a preference for conservative politicians. Interestingly, the research shows that more frequent intergroup contact leads to a feeling of a group thread, which is different from the conclusions made in the previous article. However, the results of this research show that despite Whites’ affinity for right-wing politics in the increasing diversity, the effects of it are more complex and depend on each individual. This is similar to the overall tone of the previous article.
“Past and Present Intergroup Contact and Conflict Among Inhabitants of Former Mixed Villages of Cyprus” (Kende et al., 2021) is an article investigating past collective intergroup contacts affecting different groups in the present. The authors describe how positive or negative past interrogations can affect societies differently. They take more of a historical approach to intergroup contact than the other articles and take a closer look at post-conflict societies. The research concludes that both past and present contact generally results positively, but exceptions exist (Kende et al., 2021). This conclusion is similar to the one made in the article about intergroup contact theory.
Conclusion
Discussed articles feature similar topics of intergroup contact and its effect on society. While researching different communities, they describe similar characteristics of human nature, such as the feeling of a threat, aggression, and pride, and the effect of such feelings on modern society. A general conclusion is that there is no discovered pattern to analyze the consequences of intergroup contacts, and individual cross-cultural interaction may differ significantly from collective one.
References
Kende, J., Psaltis, C., Reiter, J., Fousiani, K., Cakal, H., & GT Green, E. (2022). Past and Present Intergroup contact and conflict among inhabitants of former mixed villages of Cyprus: the role of individual and collective experiences in predicting attitudes and trust. Political Psychology, 43(4), 751-768. Web.
Knowles, E. D., & Tropp, L. R. (2018). The racial and economic context of Trump support: Evidence for threat, identity, and contact effects in the 2016 Presidential Election. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(3), 275-284. Web.
Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(3), 271-280. Web.