CONTACT AND CHANGE (268463)

  https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/268463

  FP7 (2007-2013)

  The Irony of Harmony: Examining how Experiences of Intergroup Contact can Undermine Potential for Social Change toward Equality

  Marie Curie Action: "Reintegration Grants" (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG)

  social inequalities  ·  social psychology  ·  political sciences  ·  human rights

  2010-10-01 Start Date (YY-MM-DD)

  2014-09-30 End Date (YY-MM-DD)

  € 100,000 Total Cost

  Description

Conflict and tensions between members of different groups are critical problems facing societies today. One of the most important contributions of social psychology for improving intergroup relations has been contact theory, which offers that cooperative and friendly intergroup encounters can improve attitudes between groups. The theory stimulated a vast amount of research and generated widespread optimism about the potential of creating more tolerant societies through contact interventions. Recently, however, prominent scholars have argued that while contact may be a successful tool for prejudice reduction, it may contribute little toward increasing social justice and group equality. These views, bringing together insights from social psychology, political science and sociology, drew attention to a disjuncture between the effects of contact and psychological foundations of social change. Although theorized about, these processes received sparse, and mainly correlational empirical support. The proposed research is the most detailed and most rigorous investigation yet of the consequences of intergroup contact for social change. It will be led by the applicant in close collaboration with a European collaborator and will involve a fully controlled laboratory study conducted in Israel, a longitudinal study in the U.S., and two cross-sectional studies in both India and Israel. Findings from this research, which would generalize across a variety of intergroup settings, are likely to have important theoretical as well as practical implications for interventions aimed at creating long-term social justice in societies marked by social inequality. The collaborative nature of the project involving experts residing in the US, the UK and India along with its interdisciplinary elements, is consistent with the aim of creating internationally competitive knowledge and developing ‘state of the art’, interdisciplinary research capacity within the EU.

  Complicit Organisations

1 Israeli organisation participates in CONTACT AND CHANGE.