Structured equal-status intergroup contact reduces prejudice when institutionally supported

Evidence

Allport, however, felt that social interventions, drawing on these same principles, held great promise for reducing prejudice. He proposed, building on the earlier work of Williams (1947), that appropriately structured intergroup contact could effectively decrease bias at the individual level. … Prejudice … may be reduced by equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common goals. The effect is greatly enhanced if this contact is sanctioned by institutional supports (i.e., by law, custom, or local atmosphere), and provided it is of the sort that leads to the perception of common interests and common humanity between members of the two groups. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 129

Intergroup contact will also have more positive effects when it is backed by explicit support from authorities and social institutions. Authority sanction establishes norms of acceptance and guidelines for how members of different groups should interact with each other. Field research has demonstrated the importance of authority sanction in military (Landis, Hope, & Day, 1984), business (Morrison & Herlihy, 1992), and religious settings (Parker, 1968). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1673

Categorization

• XREF: This is the canonical Contact Hypothesis that connects to work on desegregation outcomes and to the reader’s interests in social-institution design (cf. Milgrom’s institutional remedies for trade). — connects to: Cross-group friendship is the most effective intergroup contact form for reconciliation. — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: the…, 5; Intergroup contact most strongly and reliably predicts willingness to mix with the outgroup — Miles Hewstone and Ed Cairns and Alberto Voci and Juergen Hamberger and Ulrike Niens, Intergroup Contact, Forgiveness, and…, 43; Intrachurch interaction was governed by status-unequal decorum protocols — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 250 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Defines the Contact Hypothesis in Allport’s own words — equal status, common goals, institutional sanction.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 129; John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1673