The Contact Hypothesis Revisited: Black-White Interaction and Positive Racial Attitudes

The contact hypothesis the idea that contact between members of different races fosters positive racial attitudes has performed indifferently in research conducted over the past four decades, leading to a recommendation that the hypothesis be discarded and that attention turn to other sources of positive and negative racial attitudes. However, most of this research is now badly dated and focuses solely on the racial attitudes of whites. We present a new test of the contact hypothesis, drawing on a national survey of blacks and whites conducted in 1989. Analysis reveals that in several instances interracial contact is associated with more positive racial attitudes, especially among whites, and that some effects are appreciable. Although familiarity may breed contempt and absence make the heart grow fonder, students of race relations have long assumed that close contact between members of different races promotes positive racial attitudes and that the lack of such contact fosters prejudice and ill will (Allport 1954). Adherents of this contact hypothesis view racial segregation as a source of ignorance and ignorance as a breeding ground for derogatory stereotypes and racial hostility. If stronger social bonds could be forged between blacks and whites, they contend, racial attitudes would improve dramatically. Blacks are known to be more likely than whites to engage in various types of informal personal contact (Lee, Campbell & Miller 1991), but less is known about racial differences in the frequency and consequences of interracial contact. Although many researchers have observed lower levels of racial prejudice among whites who maintain closer contact with blacks (Aberbach & Walker 1973; Deutsch & Collins 1951; Meer & Freedman 1966; Robinson 1980; Wilner, Walkley & Cook 1955), the contact hypothesis has not always withstood rigorous testing (Ford 1973; Robinson & Preston 1976). In the classic "Robbers * Thanks are due to two anonymous reviewersfor their helpful suggestions. Direct correspondence to Lee Sigelman, Department of Political Science, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052. @ The University of North Carolina Press Social Forces, March 1993, 71(3):781-795 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.176 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 06:28:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 782 / Social Forces 71:3, March 1993 Cave" experiment by Sherif and his colleagues, prejudice lessened only when members of two hostile groups wereforced to cooperate with one another (Sherif et al. 1961). Subsequent experimental studies have generally concluded that only when intergroup contact occurs under highly auspicious circumstances should favorable attitude change be anticipated (see Desforges et al. 1991 and the studies cited therein). In a nonexperimental context, a major nationwide survey of whites conducted in the mid-1970s found that the racial views of whites whose circle of friends included a black person closely paralleled the views of whites with no black friends Uackman & Crane 1986). Only when blacks and whites of more or less equal status shared a wide variety of contacts did white hostility toward blacks abate an idea that hearkened back to Allport's (1954) original formulation but provided little basis for optimism, since blacks and whites often have only minimal contact and typically do not interact as social equals Jackman & Crane 1986). Based on their own findings and the results of prior research, Jackman and Crane conclude that the time has come to fashion a new explanation of interracial hostility. But it seems premature to either embrace or discard the contact hypothesis on the basis of the existing evidence. Though provocative, experimental tests of the contact hypothesis are of questionable external validity. In some cases such extreme intergroup antagonisms have been created for experimental purposes that probably not even the most fervent proponent of the contact hypothesis would expect closer intergroup contact under the same conditions to produce more positive intergroup relations. More generally, although researchers working in the experimental tradition have often couched their studies in terms of, or have extrapolated from their findings to, race relations, the experiments themselves have generally lacked a racial component. As for tests of the contact hypothesis conducted outside of the laboratory, many preceded the civil rights revolution of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and most others were undertaken during the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s. Whites' racial attitudes have undergone considerable change since then (Schuman, Steeh & Bobo 1985), and in the dynamic context of race relations in the United States it is legitimate to ask whether conclusions based on research conducted a decade or more ago are still applicable. Because the contact hypothesis focuses generically on intergroup attitudes rather than specifically on the attitudes of one group (whites) toward another (blacks), it is also important to know whether interracial contact affects the racial attitudes of blacks toward whites. This question has received little attention, and again, a high proportion of the pertinent studies are now extremely dated. In early studies of the attitudinal impact of integrated public housing, a reduction in black prejudice following close contact with whites was sometimes observed (Works 1961), but there were also reports of an increase in black prejudice (Ford 1973; Robinson & Preston 1976). No clear patterns emerged in research conducted in other settings (Brown & Albee 1966; Tsukashima & Montero 1976). Schuman and Hatchett (1974), examining data from the 1968 Detroit Area Survey, found that blacks who socialized with white neighbors or coworkers harbored fewer feelings of alienation and distrust toward white society than blacks who lacked these experiences; however, simply having casual contact with whites as neighbors or coworkers had no This content downloaded from 207.46.13.176 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 06:28:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Positive Racial Attitudes / 783 appreciable effect on blacks' racial attitudes. More recently, Sigelman and Welch (1991), drawing on national surveys conducted in 1981 and 1986, included interracial friendship as one predictor in a multivariate model of blacks' and whites' perceptions of white prejudice against blacks, but they observed no appreciable effects. What psychological mechanisms might mediate the linkage between interracial contact and positive racial attitudes? One is availability (Kahneman, Slovic & Tversky 1982). For whites, having a black friend or living in an area where one comes into frequent contact with blacks serves as a source of information about blacks their outlooks, the problems they face, and so on. Such firsthand information almost inevitably influences one's perceptions of and feelings about blacks in general. Thus, for example, when whites are asked how many blacks harbor antiwhite feelings, they may think first of their own black friends, if they have any, and the very fact of their friendship should shape their response. Or they may think of blacks in the area where they live, and here again their impressions are likely to be fairly positive, because black-white relations are usually perceived as less problematic in one's local area than nationwide (Sigelman & Welch 1991). Lacking such firsthand information, whites must base their responses on whatever other information they may have at their disposal. Given the tendency of media coverage to focus on cases of intense, dramatic conflict, the secondhand information whites have about blacks is apt to accentuate the negative. This availability-based interpretation suggests, in short, that whites' perceptions and expressions of racial hostility should be materially affected by personal contact with blacks, because such contact is a key source of positive information about blacks; in the absence of this source, whites must fall back on other information sources, including long-standing racial stereotypes and media reports, which are more likely to be negative. For blacks, too, interracial contact presumably affects the availability of information about whites, though perhaps in a somewhat more muted fashion than for whites. Living in a white-dominated society, blacks have an easier time amassing a variety of firstand secondhand information about whites than the average white does about blacks. Thus, simply being in neighborhoods or school cachement areas with whites may have little bearing on perceptions of racial attitudes generally. However, interracial friendship may deter racial stereotyping by providing blacks with counterexamples to the stereotype of whites as prejudiced and hostile. Our purpose in this study is to subject the contact hypothesis to further testing. Drawing on a biracial national survey conducted in 1989, we examine two aspects of the hypothesis. Do blacks and whites who come into closer contact with members of the other race perceive less hostility between the races than do those who are more isolated from the other race? Second, do blacks and whites who come into closer contact with members of the other race express a deeper commitment to the maintenance of interracial social ties than do others? While the contact hypothesis suggests affirmative answers to both questions, prior studies have left these issues very much in doubt. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.176 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 06:28:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 784 / Social Forces 71:3, March 1993