Residential Segregation and Intergroup Contact: Consequences for Intergroup Relations, Social Capital and Social Identity

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between social context, intergroup contact, and social identity and intergroup processes in Northern Ireland. We do so by focusing explicitly on the consequences of residential segregation in this context, a feature typical of societies entrenched in intergroup conflict. Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding the implications of residential segregation for intergroup processes, although whether living in more or less segregated social environments has positive or negative consequences remains subject to contentious debate. So what are the effects of such separation on patterns of identification, attitudes to those defined as ‘other’, and group conflict? What kinds of intra- and intergroup relations do contexts of segregation or mixing encourage? What processes and variables mediate the effects of living in segregated versus mixed contexts?