Page 363 - The Social Animal

Prejudice 345

white and minority-group children (especially if it is not begun
until high school) is usually not equal-status contact. Picture the
scene: A 10th-grade boy from a poor black or Latino family, after
being subjected to a second-rate education, is suddenly dropped
into a learning situation in a predominantly white, middle-class
school taught by white, middle-class teachers, where he finds he
must compete with white, middle-class students who have been
reared to hold white, middle-class values. In effect, he is thrust into
a highly competitive situation for which he is unprepared, a situa-
tion in which the rules are not his rules and payoffs are made for
abilities he has not yet developed. He is competing in a situation
that, psychologically, is far removed from his home turf. Ironically
enough, these factors tend to produce a diminution of his self-
esteem—the very factor that influenced the Supreme Court
decision in the first place. 91 In his analysis of the research on de-
92
segregation, Walter Stephan found no studies indicating signifi-
cant increases in self-esteem among black children, while 25
percent of the studies he researched showed a significant drop in
their self-esteem following desegregation. In addition, prejudice
was not substantially reduced; Stephan found that it increased in
almost as many cases as it decreased.
With these data in mind, it is not surprising to learn that a
newly integrated high school is typically a tense place. It is natural
for minority-group students to attempt to raise their self-esteem.
One way of raising self-esteem is to stick together, lash out at
whites, assert their individuality, and reject white values, white lead-
ership, and so on. 93
Let me sum up the discussion thus far: (1) Equal-status contact
under the ideal conditions of no economic conflict can and does pro-
duce increased understanding and a diminution of prejudice. (2) The
psychology of inevitability can and does set up pressures to reduce
prejudiced attitudes and can set the stage for smooth, nonviolent
school desegregation under ideal conditions. (3) Where economic
conflict is present, as in integrated neighborhoods of private homes,
there is often an increase in prejudiced attitudes. (4) Where school
desegregation results in a competitive situation, especially if there are
serious inequities for the minority groups, there is often an increase
in hostility of blacks or Latinos toward whites that is at least partially
due to an attempt to regain some lost self-esteem.