Religion and Reducing Prejudice

GPI0010.1177/1368430216629566Group Processes & Intergroup RelationsBurch-Brown and Baker 629566research-article2016 G Group Processes & P Intergroup Relations I Article R Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 1 –24 Religion and reducing prejudice © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1368430216629566 gpir.sagepub.com Joanna Burch-Brown1 and William Baker2 Abstract Drawing on findings from the study of prejudice and prejudice reduction, we identify a number of mechanisms through which religious communities may influence the intergroup attitudes of their members. We hypothesize that religious participation could in principle either reduce or promote prejudice with respect to any given target group. A religious community’s influence on intergroup attitudes will depend upon the specific beliefs, attitudes, and practices found within the community, as well as on interactions between the religious community and the larger social environment in which it is embedded. Basing our proposals on findings from the literature on prejudice formation and prejudice reduction allows us to outline useful directions for future studies of religion and prejudice. Keywords contact hypothesis, group processes, prejudice, prejudice reduction, religion, religiosity, social identity theory Paper received 4 April 2014; revised version accepted 23 November 2015. In this paper, we propose a set of simple hypoth- under certain facilitating conditions (e.g., equality eses about ways in which religions might tend to of status between the groups, successful coopera- promote or reduce prejudice. Our method is to tion, affirmation of positive distinct identities, build on established findings from the study of etc.). Conversely, we predict that religious com- prejudice reduction generally, and apply these munities will tend to increase prejudice to the findings to the study of religion and prejudice. extent that they discourage contact between social Drawing on the general study of prejudice reduc- groups, or encourage contact under problematic tion allows us to offer a number of well-sup- conditions (e.g., inequality of status between ported hypotheses about the diverse roles that groups, unsuccessful cooperation, failure to affirm religious communities may play in shaping inter- positive and unique subgroup identities, etc.). In group attitudes. To take one example, an important finding 1University of Bristol, UK from prejudice research is that intergroup contact 2Cardiff University, UK tends to reduce prejudice. In light of this finding, Corresponding author: we predict that religious communities will tend to Joanna Burch-Brown, University of Bristol, Cotham House, reduce prejudice between groups if they encour- Cotham Hill, Bristol, BS6 6JL, UK. age social contact between them, particularly Email:[email protected] Downloaded from gpi.sagepub.com by guest on April 27, 2016 2 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations practice, religious communities vary widely in range of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours found their messages regarding intergroup contact. across religious communities is profoundly varied Religious communities may discourage contact (Esposito, Fasching, & Lewis, 2014; Juergensmeyer, between some social groups, while facilitating and 2006; McKim, 2012, pp. 5–7; Meister, 2010; see encouraging contact between other social groups. also Burch Brown, 2013), and it is reasonable to The contact hypothesis may therefore help to par- expect this inter- and intrareligious diversity to tially explain variation in religious influences on result in significant variation in intergroup atti- intergroup attitudes. tudes. Our approach provides a more fine-grained In this paper we identify several such hypoth- route into exploring the diversity of influences eses, drawing on findings from the study of prej- likely to result from the practices of different udice reduction. Specifically, we predict that groups. religious communities will tend to reduce preju- This paper necessarily works within some dice to the extent that they do the following: (a) chosen limits. First, because the literature on Explain important differences in the social world prejudice is so rich and well developed, the pos- by pointing to differences in circumstances, sible directions for this project are many. In the instead of by reference to innate or essential space available, we discuss several important group characteristics; (b) Promote inclusive and hypotheses, but many others could have been pluralistic theologies; (c) Oppose prejudice- explored instead. We hope that readers will not supporting ideologies; (d) Model ways of catego- be limited by our omissions, and will find fur- rizing the social world which have been shown to ther hypotheses based on their own expertise. reduce prejudice, such as emphasizing positive Second, the paper adopts a theoretical focus common ingroup identities, while also affirming rather than an empirical one. We do not attempt distinct subgroup identities; (e) Encourage inter- to apply the hypotheses to practical cases. For group contact, cooperation, and friendship. researchers interested in operationalizing these These are just a few of the many possible hypoth- hypotheses in religious contexts, a useful eses that might be identified by drawing on preju- resource may be Stausberg and Engler (2013). dice-reduction research. We hope that these and Moreover, this paper does not attempt to review related hypotheses will be taken up by future the contemporary literature on religion and prej- researchers, and will be used to develop valuable udice, which would be a substantial undertaking insights into the diverse ways in which religious on its own. (A recent overview can be found in communities can shape intergroup attitudes. Rowatt, Carpenter, & Haggard, 2013.) Instead, The impact of religion on prejudice has been a in the space available, we have focused on devel- topic of interest within social psychology for oping our positive proposal. Finally, it is worth many decades. So far, however, research in this noting in advance that although our ultimate aim field has not made full use of resources from the in this paper is to identify ways in which reli- study of prejudice formation and reduction. gious communities might reduce prejudice, we Linking these bodies of research more systemati- also give considerable attention to ways in which cally could lead to significant advances in under- religions might contribute to prejudice formation. standing. One advantage of the approach we One reason for this is that findings to date have propose is that it supports a fine-grained study of tended to show a positive association between the possible relationships between religion and religious participation and prejudice against cer- prejudice. Historically, social psychological tain groups (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, research in this area has tended to treat religions 1993; Hall, Matz, & Wood, 2010; Johnson, generically (for instance with respondents being Rowatt, & LaBouff, 2012; Whitley, 2009). identified as “Christian” or “Jewish”), with broad Moreover, one way for religious communities to conclusions being drawn about the influence of reduce prejudice is by challenging those social religiosity on intergroup attitudes. However, the practices that tend to cause it, including their Downloaded from gpi.sagepub.com by guest on April 27, 2016 Burch-Brown and Baker 3 own. Thus we have given some extended atten- We begin with a brief overview of past evi- tion to the topic of prejudice formation, dence concerning relationships between religion although the overall aim of the paper is to iden- and prejudice. We then draw on Social Identity tify avenues towards prejudice reduction. Theory to help explain why religion could some- Our hope is that the relatively straightforward times lead to the formation of prejudice. Finally, model offered here will attract the attention of we consider five ways in which religious commu- fellow researchers and will stimulate new direc- nities might reduce prejudice. Our hope is that tions for the field. There are at least three reasons these hypotheses can be used to identify fruitful to think that researchers interested in prejudice directions for future research. may benefit from exploring the influences of religion. The first reason is that religion may some- Evidence of Relationships times play an important role in establishing social hierarchies and social divisions (Fredrickson, Between Religion and Prejudice 2009; Harvey, 2011). This makes religion a poten- Research into relationships between religion and tially important factor for understanding preju- prejudice began with the study of race relations dice and prejudice reduction. The second reason in America. Over a number of decades, this is the converse of the first. It is that religion may research has shown that religious identification sometimes play an important role in challenging and participation can at least sometimes be asso- social hierarchies and social divisions (Harris, ciated with increased prejudice towards a range 1999; Harvey, 2011; Morris, 1984). Both of these of outgroups (Altemeyer, 2009; Batson et al., ideas are discussed in some depth in the section 1993; Hall et al., 2010; Johnson et al., 2012; entitled “Reducing Prejudice”. Rowatt, LaBouff, Johnson, Froese, & Tsang, A third reason has to do with the contempo- 2009; Whitley, 2009). For instance, a recent meta- rary global context.

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