Browsing by Subject "Contact hypothesis"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    On the micro-ecology of racial division: A neglected dimension of segregation
    (SAGE Publications, 2005) Dixon, John; Tredoux, Colin; Clack, Beverley
    This article provides a general background to this special focus section of the journal on ‘racial interaction and isolation in everyday life’. It reviews both the geographic literature on segregation and the psychological literature on the contact hypothesis, and calls for more research on how, when and why racial isolation manifests at a microecological level; that is, the level at which individuals actually encounter one another in situations of bodily co-presence. Some conceptual and methodological implications of this extension of the segregation literature are described. The social psychological signifi cance of the racial organisation of such ordinary activities as eating in cafeterias, relaxing on beaches and occupying public seating are also explored. The focus of the argument is that everyday boundary processes may maintain the salience of racial categories, embody racial attitudes and regulate the possibility of intimate contact.
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    Patterns of racial segregation in residence dining halls
    (2005) Schrieff, Leigh; Tredoux, Colin; Dixon, John; Finchilescu, Gillian
    Social psychologists have long been interested in the effects of ‘contact’ between racial groups. The conditions under which this contact can manifest have usually been experimentally manipulated in order to determine optimal combinations. A shortcoming of this approach is that it constructs contact situations that are unnatural and contrived. Some researchers have proposed an approach that examines contact as a natural phenomenon (Dixon & Durrheim, 2003). The present research adopts this approach, and reports on a naturalistic, observational study of ‘contact’ between students in university residence dining-halls. Seating patterns of students were observed for one month and analysed along dimensions of spatial variation. The results show high levels of informal segregation and that the segregation manifests as a specifi c spatial confi guration. Such results, which occur despite the presence of apparently favourable conditions, illustrate how this approach may lead to different conclusions to those achieved through experimental manipulation.
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    Preserving spatial and temporal dimensions in observational data of segregation
    (2005) Tredoux, Colin; Dixon, John; Underwood, Stephen; Nunez, David; Finchilescu, Gillian
    Recent approaches to the study of intergroup contact have emphasised the need for naturalistic studies and the importance of paying attention to the spatiality of contact. In this article it is argued that it is important to preserve both spatiality and temporality when studying inter-group contact in naturalistic settings. This is not easy to do with existing observational methods, and a novel approach is proposed. Photographs are taken of a public space with a fixed periodicity and vantage point, and with knowledge of the physical layout of the space, three-dimensional, time-marked data points are recorded for each inhabitant. A public space on a university campus was used as a test bed, and data are reported that show it to be very useful, giving fresh insights into the nature of segregation and integration in informal leisure spaces, as well as providing evidence of the importance of taking temporality into account when studying naturalistic instances of inter-group contact.