Equal Status Contact is the Solution

I believe today's chapter can make great use of Allport's Contact Hypothesis, which states that equal status contact can help to relieve prejudice thoughts, acts, and stereotypes. The chapter places an emphasis of the fact that we as humans have a natural inclination to categorize and subdivide individuals and things into specific categories, and then attach meanings to these categories. However these meanings, which are socially constructed, become worked into a frame of thought that is adamant and rigid and inherent into the thinking process. Yet, like Allport I agree that equal status contact, coupled with a common goal can help to destruct these sexist, classist, and racist thoughts and beliefs. I can't recall the sociologist at the moment, but he established two competing boys camps experimentally, in which two groups of boys resided at either of the two camps, he then gave the camps bonding experiences, of which they used to develop in group cohesion. When told that they would be competing against one another, their in group cohesion was significantly strong, and they favored their group to the other, distinguishing the differences between their group through positive descriptors, and the out-group through negative descriptors. It is through the membership of simply being in one group or another that developed a negative perception of the two groups, which resembled racist talk among in-groups when referring to racial out-groups. However, when time came for them to have to ban together in order to get a broken-down bus back onto the road, it was through the collective efforts of the two groups that changed their perceptions of one another. Through joining their strengths they were able to debunk any negative beliefs of one another, because they had developed equal status contact. Therefore, the two groups now believed the other to be both competent and warm, allowing the groups to come together establishing mutual friendships between the two groups. This chapter sparked my thought on this subject because I believe that the chapter in some way was searching for a solution to the problems of stratification and Allport's theory got my wheels turning as a number of possible solutions.