Beter een goede buur dan een verre vriend? Een onderzoek naar de relatie tussen contact en negatieve houdingen, het verschil tussen gedwongen en vrijwillig contact en de mediërende rol van dreiging

Abstract

This study examines whether prejudice against Dutch Moroccans and Turks can be explained by forced and voluntary contact and whether threat mediates this relationship. It tests Allport’s contact theory, the ethnic competition theory and how these two work together in the Dutch context. Using the NELLS data (2013) in regression analyses, we find that threat and both forced and voluntary contact are significant predictors of prejudice against Moroccans and Turks. On top of that, we find no significant relationship between neither forced nor voluntary contact and threat. Therefore, threat does not appear to mediate the relationship between contact and prejudice. Implications for further research are offered.