Transcending Racial Barriers: Toward a Mutual Obligations Approach

by Michael O. Emerson

For example, Yancey (1999) has demonstrated that interracial contact in residential neighborhoods is less likely to promote attitudinal changes than is interracial contact in religious institutions. He argues that this pattern results because interracial contact is more likely to meet the necessary conditions in religious institutions than in residential neighborhoods. Other researchers have provided evidence that interracial contact in religious institutions has a significant effect on racial attitudes (Emerson 2006, Irvine 1973, Parker 1968, Yancey 1999, 2001). Likewise, research has suggested that interracial contact within families (Rosenblatt, Karis, & Powell; Yancey 2007a), the military (Mkandelbaum 1952, Moskos & Butler 1996), and athletic teams (K. Brown et al. 2003, T. Brown et al. 2003, Miracle 1981) also generates powerful effects because these settings meet the necessary conditions for positive attitudinal changes.