"Parallel Lives" 20 Years On: Identifying the Drivers of Interethnic Contact in the UK

There is substantial evidence in social psychology that social interactions between members of different ethnic groups - known as intergroup contact - reduce prejudice and promote more tolerant race relations. Although opportunities for intergroup contact are constantly growing in modern diverse societies, these contact opportunities are often not exploited.

Surprisingly little research attention has been given to how intergroup interactions might be encouraged in the first place. The proposed research will address this gap in knowledge by identifying and integrating factors that influence whether people engage with, or avoid, intergroup interactions.

Understanding more about the drivers of intergroup contact engagement has been identified by the UK Government's Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper (2018) as being key to building social cohesion. Using a multilevel longitudinal approach, we will contribute to capturing the real-world complexity of intergroup contact experiences by simultaneously considering the influence of individual-level psychological factors and residential-area-level characteristics, and their interplay, in facilitating or inhibiting interethnic contact.

We will study not just positive contact but also negative contact, for members of ethnic majority and understudied ethnic minority groups. The research will result in a sophisticated and integrated understanding of intergroup contact engagement.

Our research programme consists of three distinct but complementary work packages, combining a mixture of methodological approaches. Work package 1 will involve the analysis of an existing large, high-quality, UK household longitudinal panel dataset. To complement Work package 1, Work package 2 will collect data from a new cohort incorporating measures of both positive and negative intergroup contact.

Finally, Work package 3 will consist of a situated exploration of intergroup contact engagement within five local authority 'Integration Areas' that face pressing social integration challenges (Blackburn, Bradford, Peterborough, Walsall and Waltham Forest) using diary study methods to capture everyday intergroup contact as it unfolds in these high-priority areas.

Reflecting our commitment to conducting high impact research embedded in national policy agendas, we have developed an integrated research plan which engages policymakers and users throughout the project. Project partners Belong will lead a series of impact activities, including the production of policy reports, and the organisation of policy roundtables and public events.

A project advisory panel will be chaired by Professor Ted Cantle, drawing on Belong' membership network and wider stakeholders including representatives from local and national government (e.g., Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [DLUHC]), civil society sectors and independent practitioners. The advisory board will meet regularly throughout the project to review the research objectives and to consider the implications of findings for policy and practice.