Networks & Prejudice · Not only Whom you Know but also How you Know them Matters:How the Structure of Social Networks affects Racial Prejudice

Not only Whom you Know but also How you Know them Matters: How the Structure of Social Networks affects Racial Prejudice.

The NETWORKS & PREJUDICE project applied the latest techniques from sociological network analysis to study intergroup contact and prejudice. Its particular focus was on cultural diversity as a consequence of migration, and how this relates to discrimination in terms of interethnic prejudice. Three goals have been defined, and have been achieved through work on five tasks. The first goal involved studying how structural features of networks influence the impact of contact on prejudice. The second goal was to advance knowledge on whether networks shape the causal relation between contact and prejudice. The third goal focused on whether the impact of indirect contact with people from other ethnic or racial groups on prejudice depends on the structure of the social network within which the contact takes place. Task 1 was dedicated to training in multi-trait multi-method structural equation models and the comparison of multiple measurements of racial prejudice. The analyses of four independent surveys led to the conclusion that the best measure of racial prejudice should comprise multiple indicators. A new, more comprehensive but also more parsimonious measurement of racial prejudice has been developed. In Task 2, NETWORKS & PREJUDICE analysed ego-centred network data from two independent samples. Findings are consistent and indicate that the structure of the social network in which intergroup contact takes place does moderate the effect of contact on prejudice. Contact effects are weaker in denser social networks. For Task 3, the project developed and applied more complex stochastic actor-based models for longitudinal social network analyses. Results suggest that prejudiced individuals have fewer contacts with members of other groups because the network structure offers fewer opportunities, and not because of their negative attitudes. Through work on Task 4, researchers developed new software to collect data on ego-centred networks in online surveys. Results of a survey experiment show that survey respondents enjoy the new application significantly more than existing approaches. Moreover, the new software seems to improve the quality of the collected data. In Task 5, the newly developed software tool has been used to collect data on the structure of ego-centred networks in a European country. Results of this study showed that the potential of indirect (extended) contact for prejudice reduction might have been overstated by previous research that did not consider the network structure. These findings have the potential to change the direction of research in the field of intergroup contact as they suggest that previous interpretations of the extended contact effect may be incorrect. Project work offers an improved approach to measuring prejudice and enhance the quality of data to be collected on prejudice and social networks in future research. As such, results of this project are relevant for market researchers, industry consultants, and social scientists working with social networks. These target groups can make use of newly developed software to collect data on ego-centred social networks on computers. This software reduces the burden for respondents and seems to produce higher quality data. Importantly, this work shows that social networks have to be taken into account when intergroup contact interventions are designed to reduce prejudice. Interpersonal contact between members of different cultural groups, especially in the form of friendships, has been identified as the most important determinant of prejudice reduction. Surprisingly, previous research has not considered the fact that these relationships are not independent from each other but rather part of larger social networks. Results of this project showed that social networks moderate the effect of relationships on prejudice reduction, determine the opportunity for prejudiced people to engage in contact, and affect our understanding of intergroup contact effects. Results from each of the five tasks have been presented at conferences, invited talks, and through manuscripts, either already published or under review at high-impact journals. The results enhance our understanding of the effect of social network structures, and facilitate more targeted policy recommendations for reducing prejudice and fostering ethnic integration in Europe. This work is thus relevant for policy makers as well as professionals that work in ethnically diverse settings such as schools or organisations. Results of this project suggest that future interventions designed to reduce prejudice need to take the structure of the networks in which contact takes place into account.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union