Contact and the Alteration of Racial Attitudes in South Africa

Abstract

Two generations of social psychologists have described a remarkably consistent pattern of racial attitudes in South Africa. Whites exhibit determinedly negative attitudes towards other ‘race’ groups (Afrikaans speakers more so than English speakers), and blacks, on the other hand, show a much lower degree of ethnocentrism, especially toward English-speaking whites. This ‘lop-sided colour bar’ is a consistent finding, both historically and across different attitudinal measures. We report results here that indicate that this pattern may be changing, in at least one part of the country. In addition, we examine the attitudes of school pupils in integrated and segregated schools, both in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, for evidence that inter-racial contact improves attitudinal dispositions. Our findings here offer little evidence in favour of the proposition: they appear instead to suggest the dependency of the effects of contact on cultural and normative factors.