SIMILARITY AND ATTRACTION AMONG MAJORITY AND MINORITY-GROUPS IN A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT

As a policy for managing cultural diversity, assimilation has emphasiz ed similarity-attraction, whereas multiculturalism highlights a ''cele bration of differences''. We tested two competing hypotheses, similari ty-attraction and similarity-differentiation, among samples from six e thnic groups in Greater Montreal, Canada. Six-hundred and five partici pants were interviewed by means of an individually administered struct ured interview procedure conducted by coethnic interviewers. Each part icipant was asked to indicate the extent to which he/she would be will ing to associate with members of the other five ethnic groups, and how similar the other groups were to one's own group. The pattern of rela tionship observed between social distance and similarity supported the similarity-attraction hypothesis. The relationship was particularly s trong when minority groups were rated. Possible interpretations of thi s finding and implications for culturally diverse societies are discus sed. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.