Political contacts: Analyzing the role of similarity in theories of prejudice

Over the last 50 years, many theories of prejudice reduction in social psyc hology have embraced the premise that intergroup contact allows people to r ecognize similarities between themselves, and that this perceived similarit y overwhelms the social distance associated With intergroup antipathy. Give n the mired empirical evidence, however, we suggest that the positive effec ts of perceived similarity have been overemphasized. Although similarity ma y be sufficient for improved intergroup relations, the relationship between similarity and intergroup relations is far more complex than the literatur e usually suggests. Moreover, studying difference in intergroup contexts ma y yield new ways to resolve intergroup conflict and address group inequalit ies.