Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This paper outlines the normative approach to intergroup harmony and intergroup conflict. It illustrates the power of racial norms in research conducted in the United States. It also indicates potential weaknesses of normative theory in this and other social scientific areas of inquiry. The normative approach is illustrated with research conducted by the author over the past 35 years in such conflict-ridden interracial situations as the southern United States and the Republic of South Africa as well as in the more harmonious intergroup context of The Netherlands. The paper advances a speculative application of normative theory to ethnic tensions currently arising in many develcping countries. It also discusses social psychological processes underlying change in intergroup norms.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adorno, T.W. , Frenkel-Brunswik, E. , Levinson, D.J. , & Sanford, N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper & Row.

Allport, G.W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Biesanz, J. ,& Smith, L.M. (1951). Race relations of Panama and the Canal Zone. American Sociological Review, 57, 7-14.

Kelman, H.C. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution , 2, 51-60.

Killian, L.W. (1949). Southern white laborers in Chicago's West Side. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago.

Kohn, M.L. & Williams, R. (1956). Situational patterning in intergroup relations . American Sociological Review, 21, 164-174.

Minard, R.D. (1952). Race relations in the Pocahontas coal field. Journal of Social Issues, 8, 29-44.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1958). Personality and sociocultural factors in intergroup attitudes: A cross-national comparlson. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 29-42.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1959). Regional differences in anti-Negro prejudice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 28-36.

10.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1961). Social psychology and desegregation research. American Psychologist, 16, 105-112.

11.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1986). The contact hypothesis revisited. In M. Hewstone & R. Brown (Eds.), Contact and conflict in intergroup encounters. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.

12.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1988). Influencing policy with social psychology. (The 1987 Kurt Lewin Memorial Address.) Journal of Social Issues , 44 (2), 205-219.

13.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1989). The nature of modern racism in the United States . Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 2 (3), 291-303.

14.

Reitzes, D.C. (1953). The role of organizational structures: Union versus neighborhood in a tension situation. Journal of Social Issues , 9, 37-44.

Normative Theory in Intergroup Relations: Explaining Bo th Harmony an d Conflict

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References