Chapter 19
Interracial Contact among University and School Youth in Post-apartheid South Africa
Colin Tredoux,
John Dixon,
Kevin Durrheim,
Buhle Zuma,
Colin Tredoux
Search for more papers by this authorJohn Dixon
Search for more papers by this authorKevin Durrheim
Search for more papers by this authorBuhle Zuma
Search for more papers by this authorColin Tredoux,
John Dixon,
Kevin Durrheim,
Buhle Zuma,
Colin Tredoux
Search for more papers by this authorJohn Dixon
Search for more papers by this authorKevin Durrheim
Search for more papers by this authorBuhle Zuma
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Adam Rutland,
Drew Nesdale,
Christia Spears Brown,
Adam Rutland
Search for more papers by this authorDrew Nesdale
Search for more papers by this authorChristia Spears Brown
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
South Africa is particularly interesting in that it has brought groups into contact that had formerly been rigidly separated and reared to fear each other. A central conjecture of social psychology is that contact between groups in disharmony can reduce intergroup hostilities and prejudices. The author's believe that studying the “ecology”, and “micro-ecology”, of intergroup interactions amongst university and school youth may reveal some of the social psychological processes that lead to wider patterns of re-segregation. Social class is closely tied to racial segregation in a complex way there. On the one hand, it is a fact of South African society that Black people are in the overwhelming majority of those who remain poor or underdeveloped. On the other hand, social class plays an important role in creating “sites of desegregation”, breaking down some apartheid forms of segregation.
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