Prejudice can be reduced via six different conditions, including mutual interdependence; a common goal; equal status; informal, interpersonal contact; multiple contacts; and social norms of equality. Research substantiates the importance of each of these six conditions for reducing or eliminating prejudice. Ideally, all six of these conditions will be in place to ensure that prejudice is reduced. Moreover, applying these six conditions can help organizations perform better and achieve tangible goals. For example, Fiske (2000) found “building on interdependence was essential for successful intergroup contact,” (p. 115). Programs that are designed to reduce or eliminate prejudice need to focus on at least two, if not more, of these conditions. Interdependence is linked to the achievement of common goals, another condition for reducing prejudice. When an organization actively pursues and enforces policies that ensure equal status of all employees or members, it leads to a normative environment that does not support prejudice. However, formal methods of reducing prejudice such as equal status may not be sufficient. Research also shows that informal interpersonal contact is also important for reducing prejudice. A program that reduces prejudice should ideally focus on both informal and immediate interpersonal contact and generating social norms of equality.
Contact...
“Research on equal-status interracial contact suggests that such contact lessens prejudice,” but not just when an institution or organization mandates contact (Robinson & Preston, 1976, p. 911). Prejudicial attitudes and beliefs are often perpetuated when equal status is embedded in rules or laws, but not necessarily experienced in practice. Therefore, a program that also encourages informal interpersonal contact will be necessary. Schools and workplace organizations can work hard to implement programs that create team-based activities that not only encourage interpersonal contact and multiple contacts, but also help the individuals come up with a common goal they can reach together. The importance of common goals and interdependence cannot be underestimated; when the individual members of a team realize that they need each other to achieve a common goal, their stereotypes, biases, and beliefs fade away. Yet as Pettigrew & Tropp (2000) point out, it is not just common goals and mutual interdependence, but also equal status and continual contact that become necessary for reducing prejudice.
A program that reduces prejudice operates on multiple levels to achieve all six of the necessary conditions. For example, the program is both administrative and personal, with…
