Even under apartheid and segregation, intergroup contact reduced prejudice.

Evidence

Consider two relevant examples: Van Dyk (1990) found that rural Afrikaans-speaking White housewives who had close contact with their African domestic workers had more favorable attitudes toward Africans in general (r .09). Conducted during the tense final days of South Africa’s apartheid policy, this contact situation sharply violates Allport’s key conditions. Likewise, Crain and Weisman (1972) found that adult African Americans who reported having played with Whites as children were less anti-White (r .08), although they had experienced racially segregated neighborhoods and elementary schools. Like these examples, many of the meta-analysis’ studies conspicuously lack Allport’s key conditions for positive contact outcomes and yet report some reduction in prejudice. — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 227

Categorization

• QUESTION: The effect sizes here are very small (r .08-.09) — how meaningful are these effects in real-world terms despite statistical significance?
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Frequent interracial contact alone did nothing to soften apartheid’s hierarchy. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1552; Intergroup contact reduces prejudice even beyond the groups involved. — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 119; Even apartheid-era unequal-status contact reduced White prejudice — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 226 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Even apartheid-era unequal-status contact reduced White prejudice #corroborates (0.98) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 226
• Mere intergroup contact without equal status worsened racial prejudice #contradicts (0.92)
• Mere exposure to outgroup members reduces prejudice even without optimal conditions. #corroborates (0.92) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 32
• Contact reduces prejudice only under equal-status, intimate, stereotype-defying conditions #contradicts (0.88) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1665
• Contact reduces hostility even amid conflict and heavy segregation, mainly affectively. #expands (0.82) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1843
• Intergroup contact is an established general mechanism for reducing prejudice across group types. #corroborates (0.80) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 239
• Intergroup contact reduces prejudice only under four specific optimal conditions. #contradicts (0.78) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 17
• Intergroup contact reduces prejudice even beyond the groups involved. #corroborates (0.72) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 119