The basic assumption of this paper is that school's potential to improve cross-cultural relations, as well as interpersonal relations in general, is enormous. This assumption is supported by a number of theoretical considerations and by the analysis of data we obtained from a study we conducted on the attitudes toward diversity and…

The contact hypothesis states that, under the right conditions, contact between members of different groups leads to more positive intergroup relations. The authors track recent trends in contact theory to the emergence of extended, or indirect, forms of contact. These advances lead to an intriguing proposition: that simply imagining intergroup…

In this study, preservice teachers' demographic variables such as race, innercity program experiences, religious affiliation, and cross-cultural friendships are examined to see if they influence the preservice teachers' beliefs on issues of diversity. The data are from a Personal Beliefs About Diversity Scale and a Professional Beliefs About…

Economic and market globalization in the United States has engendered a multicultural learning environment that challenges both faculty and students. Diversity in the classroom is further complicated by nonverbal communication, which impacts on students' attitudes toward faculty members. Because today's classrooms are changing and undergoing rapid…

One important aim of citizenship education is learning to deal with cultural diversity. To this end, schools organise exchange projects to bring students into contact with different social and cultural groups. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of intergroup contact in educational settings and to understand what the most…

The purpose of this article is to revisit "Brown" as a paradigmatic understanding of social justice and its barriers, by reconsidering "Brown" in light of the three moral pillars of democracy identified by Cornel West (2004). West maintains that authentic deep democracy is grounded in three fundamental capacities and dispositions, or pillars: (a)…

One of the benefits of using films in sociology class is the opportunity media representations give students to "experience" situations that are uncommon in their daily lives. In this note the authors outline research in education that demonstrates the role of imagery and experiential learning in fostering a deeper understanding of…

We investigated romantic relationships in a sample of 380 adolescents who formed 190 heterosexual couples (mean age: females 17 years; males 18 years): 173 intra-ethnic (German) couples and 17 inter-ethnic couples. Factor analyses revealed two types of love experiences: (a) experiences of attraction and a passionate focus on the partner…

Hong Kong popular culture played an important role in the construction and consolidation of Hong Kong identity long before the handover to China. In the past few years leading up to the 10th anniversary of the handover, both Hong Kong and China have undergone numerous changes which seem to be changing their relations. Whilst Hong Kong people had…

Colleges have talked for decades about the educational benefits of diversity on their campuses without offering much research to show how students are affected by exposure to members of other racial and ethnic groups. In an effort to fill that gap, James Sidanius, a professor of psychology and of African and African-American studies at Harvard…

When public discourse around religious diversity is so fraught, how might faculty teach about religion in a way that encourages civic engagement and participation in a diverse society in college students? The authors suggest a way forward, what they call "interfaith literacy," and explore how it might play out in the college classroom.

Religious communities are important sources of bridging and bonding social capital that have varying implications for perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas. In particular, as well as cultivating cohesiveness more broadly, the bridging social capital associated within mainline religious communities may represent an especially important…

In "Educations in Ethnic Violence", Matthew Lange explores the effects education has on ethnic violence. Lange contradicts the widely-held belief that education promotes peace and tolerance. Rather, Lange finds that education commonly contributes to aggression, especially in environments with ethnic divisions, limited resources, and…

This article focuses on the sense of what an "African" (American) identity could mean when viewed through the processes of migrations and fluid identities of contemporary African immigrant children as they interact with their African (Americans) peers in schools. The purpose of this article is to use data from a study of West African…

Most analyses of the sociolinguistic aspects of immigration focus on contexts where a single language is official and widely used. In bilingual Catalonia, newly arriving immigrants find themselves in a situation where the administration seeks to treat Catalan as a fully functional public language while large sectors of the local population still…