1. Can we prove that RE promotes good community relations?
Shelley McKeown Jones1, Janet Orchard1, Amanda Williams1 and Rachael Jackson- Royal
1University of Bristol

2. Contact Hypothesis (Allport,1954)
Equal Status
Cooperation
Successful intergroup contact
Common Goals
Social or institutional support

3. General Limitations Equal status and the conditions
Contact may increase conflict & perceived differences.
Problem of generalization
Applicable in everyday life?- next. 3

4. Three main limitations Dixon et al. (2005)
The prioritizing of the study of interactions occurring under rarefied conditions
The reformation of lay understandings of contact in terms of a generic typology of ideal dimensions.
The use of shifts in personal prejudice as the primary source of outcome.

5. Contact in the ‘real world’
The harsh realities

6. Micro-ecology in South Africa
The spacio-temporal unfolding of interaction and isolation at relatively intimate levels of analysis and across a variety of everyday life settings (Dixon and Tredoux, 2008).
Universities (Koen and Durrheim, 2010)
Schools (Clack et al. 2005)
Beaches (Dixon and Durrheim, 2003)
Public steps (Tredoux et al. 2005)
Cafeterias (Schrieff et al. 2005)

7. Micro-ecological maps
Beach study- Scottburgh University lecture theatre
Dixon and Durrheim (2003) Koen and Durrheim (2009)
Micro-ecological maps

8. Examining the micro-ecology of segregation
In a (ethno) religiously divided society

9. Northern Ireland Part of the UK Partition in 1921
Population: million
48% Protestant
45% Catholic

10. The micro-ecology of segregation
Study 1- in an environment where intergroup contact is encouraged- integrated schools
Study 2- in a naturally religiously mixed environment- further education college
Study 3- in a naturally occurring contact intervention where contact is suggested to be optimal

11. Brief method
Sample
Three schools (4 classes in each, 2 yr 8 and 2 yr 10)
One FE college (3 classes)
Cross- community intervention (2x groups of 50)
Materials and procedure:
Observations of seating choice over time
Self-report : infrahumanization, anxiety and self-esteem
Analyses
Mapping- school as proxy for religion
Adjacency index, dissimilarity index, exposure index

12. Results summary Integrated schools Further education college
Segregation over time, across year groups
Further education college
Segregation existed and persisted, as did infrahumanization
Cross-community
Segregation at T1 not at T2
Infrahumanization present at T1 but not at T2, decrease in anxiety and increase in self-esteem