Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-136). / In the light of social identity theory and contact theory, this study looked at the effects of racial identity on contact and prejudice. The sample consisted of 826 UCT students who belonged to the White and African population groups. Their mean age was 20.50 and they were 52.54% females and 47.46% males. A pilot study using 42 participants answered questions concerning the face validity of the scales and questions aimed at testing the on-line system for data collection. The data was gathered by means of a questionnaire accessed by the participants on-line. The interval scales measuring racial identity, nature and frequency of contact and prejudice/social distance were all found to have Cronbach's coefficient alphas bigger than .73. Another variable measured the proportion of cross-race friendships as a percentage. Two statistical techniques were used to analyse the data: path analysis and simultaneous multiple regressions. Some information was added by the theme analysis of the comments of the participants concerning the study. The results of the study revealed total mean values above the mid-point for all variables that are: in-group identity, nature and frequency of contact, positive feelings of the participants towards each other and desire for interracial contact. Two things are salient in the results of the present study: a) interracial contact did not allow cross-race friendships forming at a moderate or high percentage and; b) in the African population group racial identity (social identity) did not have statistically significant effects on prejudice and social distance. It did have them when the group was split by gender. Two research hypotheses were confirmed and the other two were partially confirmed. Racial identity had a direct negative causal effect on nature of contact for the entire sample and for the White population group. It also had an indirect negative causal effect on prejudice and social distance via nature of contact for the entire sample and the White population group. For this group, racial identity also had direct negative causal effects on prejudice/social distance. Racial identity had direct causal effects on prejudice for the African males and females separately. Nature of contact had the strongest direct positive causal effects on prejudice/social distance. The variance in prejudice/social distance is explained by racial identity, nature and frequency of contact acting together, with the nature of contact being the strongest contributor. The results show positive effects of inter-racial contact on prejudice/social distance on UCT campus. This trend was also found by some previous studies. Some limitations linked to the research methodology inhibited the generalisation of the results.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/12416 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Muianga, Lucena |
| Contributors | Tredoux, Colin, Finchilescu, Gillian |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Psychology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | application/pdf |
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