Open conflict and dispute fostered more positive racial attitudes.

Evidence

Crain and Mahard (1982) found that open dispute and conflict preceding the implementation of school desegregation not only fostered more positive attitudes among black students, but generally improved the school racial climate. In terms of national survey data, Schuman et al. (1985) reported that change in the attitudes of individuals (as opposed to change resulting from cohort replacement) toward greater support of racial principles was more characteristic of the turbulent 1960s than of the quiescent 1970s. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3378

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the common intuitive and scholarly assumption that conflict only hardens group hostility; connects to the contested claim that social movements radicalize rather than moderate attitudes.
• SEED: Article angle: ‘The Upside of Conflict’—when does open dispute soften rather than entrench racial attitudes, and what does this imply for contemporary activism online?