Connecting Across Difference: What Does the Research Tell Us?
A good place to start is ‘Contact Theory’. Contact theory (Allport 1954) tells us that there can be positive effects from ‘contact’ between ethnically different groups. This underpins our emphasis on building bridges between communities through everyday contact and intermixing. However, according to these positive effects only occur if four pre-conditions are met:
- That there is equal group status within the situation;
- The different groups share common goals;
- That there is inter-group cooperation;
- And the ‘contact’ has the support of authorities, law, or custom.
And these must be underpinned by (Pettigrew 1998)
- Learning about out-groups that corrects negative views;
- Positively reinforced behaviour modification that leads to attitude changes;
- Generating affective ties, such as friendship;
- In-group reappraisal of their existing norms and customs to be more inclusive of out-group worldviews
There are a number of very good research reports exploring the incidence and character of racism in Australia and elsewhere. There is also a growing body of work on ‘what works’ in community cohesion. You’ll find a selection of these below.
| Title | Synopsis | File Link |
|---|---|---|
| Connecting Across Difference | ‘Contact’ theory (Allport 1954) tells us that there can be positive effects from ‘contact’ between ethnically different groups. | view PDF |
| SBS Living Diversity | This study gives us a glimpse of the ‘diversity within diversity’ of Australians’ engagement with multiculturalism, their senses of identity and belonging, the ways in which they engage with others of different backgrounds, and their uses of media in a multicultural society. | view PDF |
| Community Cohesion for Children, Young People and their Families | The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), through Local Government Analysis and Research (LGAR), requested the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to conduct a rapid evidence review in the area of community cohesion as part of the Local Government Analysis and Research Educational Research Programme. The focus of the review was from an education and children’s services perspective. | view PDF |
| Everyday Multiculturalism | Multiculturalism From Below: Transversal Crossings and Working Class Cosmopolitans | view PDF |
| Living with Racism | The experience and reporting by Arab and Muslim Australians of discrimination, abuse and violence since 11 September 2001 | view PDF |
| Love Thy Neighbours | Racial prejudice can lead to friction, disharmony and even physical violence. It is a major social problem in many societies and one from which Australia is not immune. | view PDF |
| Our Shared Future | Imagine the open communities of 2020 ... thriving and prosperous places where people from all different backgrounds are equal, and where everyone matters – whether old or young, settled or new, Black or White. | view PDF |
| What's the Score? | Racism in sport is a reality. Incidents of discrimination and vilification are prevalent across many sporting codes, involving professional and amateur sports people, coaches and spectators. | view PDF |
| Whose Responsibility? | Community Anti-racism Strategies After September 11, 2001 | view PDF |
| Contact Zones | This report details research undertaken in the multicultural Sydney suburb of Ashfield. The study investigated the quality of intercommunal relations with a focus on experiences among elderly Anglo-Celtic senior citizens who are long term residents of the area. It explores their perceptions of the recent urban changes brought by the recent wave of Chinese immigration to the area. It included a smaller sub-study of non-Anglo long term residents and their experience of these changes. | view PDF |
| sub head | view more |
