Sentence:  Missionary outreach by friendly contact looks somewhat different when one reflects on what is known about friendly contact in metropolitan neighborhoods ; the majority of such contacts <WSD>are</WSD> with people of similar social and economic position ; association by level of achievement is the dominant principle of informal relations . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)