Equality Revisited: A Cultural Meta-Analysis of Intergroup Contact and Prejudice

Abstract

Across cultures, intergroup contact—interpersonal interaction with out-group members—is associated with less prejudice. Contact research was criticized, however, for bypassing intergroup inequality in the wider society. We propose a cultural psychology approach grounding people’s contact experiences in culturally afforded ways of relating to out-groups. Extending Allport’s equal-status hypothesis to the culture level, we hypothesized that the contact–prejudice association would be stronger in egalitarian cultures and weaker in more hierarchical cultures. To test this hypothesis, we revisited Pettigrew and Tropp’s influential meta-analysis and augmented it with culture-level measures of equality and hierarchy values. Our meta-analysis of intergroup contact and prejudice in 660 samples across 36 cultures suggested that egalitarianism was related to stronger contact–prejudice associations. Cultural hierarchy values and social dominance orientation corresponded with weaker contact–prejudice associations. Cultures of equality made a difference over and above equal status in the contact situation.