The taboo against contact with minorities: A folk‐anthropology approach to prejudices

Abstract

In contrast to the classic theory of contact among groups to combat prejudice against the outgroup (Allport, 1954), we propose the theory of the taboo of contact according to which prejudice against minorities does not arise due to lack of contact, but precisely in order to avoid contact.We summarise a series of themata whereby in the West the majority's fears of losing the purity of their religious, ethnic, or racial identity have been ontologised in four minorities (Jews, gypsies, natives, and black people).The hypothesis is that the greater the proximity to -or danger of mixing with -those vilified minorities, the greater the taboo of contact will be. We conclude that the prejudice against minorities who are victims of current ethnic and racial discrimination is an hysteresis effect of folk-anthropology themata.

Understanding the Public Stigma of Mental Illness: A Mixed-Methods, Multi-Level, Exploratory Triangulation Study.

“…Rather than contact being an ingredient for change, attention to themata suggests that people experience contact in such a way that a rms its perceived 'Otherness,' such as by associating mental illness with historically rooted concerns for contagion, violence, and moral degeneration [18; 45; 46], while also holding a self-protective generative function [40]. We found a Self/Other thema informed representations of contact; through contact, people reproduced a positive social identity as different and distant from individuals with experiences of mental illness, whilst also being cognizant of harm incurred when feeling isolated [59].…”

Does threat cause discrimination or does discrimination cause threat? (¿La amenaza causa la discriminación o la discriminación causa la amenaza?)

“…Although the existing stereotypes about a minority propel the acts of their discrimination, it is well known that there are norms today that prohibit the expression of that discrimination (e.g., Crandall et al, 2002). In these societal contexts, the act of discriminating generates a sociomoral conflict between the immanent themata in folk knowledge that lead to discrimination against the minority (Pérez, 2021) and the moral condemnation of that same discrimination. This conflict generates an aversion towards the minority (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991; Kovel, 1970), which increases threat anxiety when imagining any interaction with it.…”

“…Aunque los estereotipos existentes sobre una minoría impulsan los actos discriminatorios hacia ella, es bien sabido que en la actualidad existen normas que prohíben la expresión de esa discriminación (véase por ejemplo, Crandall et al, 2002). En estos contextos sociales, el acto de discriminar genera un conflicto sociomoral, entre los themata del pensamiento de sentido común que sustentan la discriminación de la minoría (Pérez, 2021) y la condena moral de tal discriminación. Este conflicto genera una aversión hacia la minoría (cf., Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991; Kovel, 1970), que aumenta la ansiedad por amenaza al imaginar cualquier interacción con ella.…”