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Abstract: Adolescents’ attitudes towards different ethnic groups develop in the context of their social networks. Prior research has shown the positive effect of friendships with members of a different ethnic group (outgroup) on adolescents’ attitudes, yet the corresponding effect of friendships with members of the same group (ingroup) has been largely ignored. In this talk, I present the findings of a five-wave social network study that investigated how ingroup and outgroup friendships shape adolescents’ attitudes towards ethnic outgroups. The study was conducted in two ethnically diverse UK schools (N = 1,170), and employed a social network analysis framework, which uniquely enabled us to separate contact, socialisation and selection processes. Longitudinal co-evolution models revealed divergent effects of ingroup and outgroup friendships on adolescents’ outgroup attitudes. In line with prior research, having more outgroup friends predicted more positive attitudes. However, the most powerful effect came from ingroup friends, via attitude socialisation. The findings show that considering both outgroup and ingroup friendships is necessary to understand intergroup relations, and illustrate the value of innovative social network analyses in examining prejudice development.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Hilary Term is convened by Richard Breen and Janne Jonsson. For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.