Contact Theory in a Small-Town Settler-Colonial Context: The Reproduction of Laissez-Faire Racism in Indigenous-White Canadian Relations

This article builds on group position theory and the subcategorization model of intergroup contact by illustrating how, in a small-town settler-colonial context, contact tends to reproduce, rather than challenge, the inequitable racial structure. In Northwestern Ontario, Indigenous-settler relations...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American sociological review 2015-02, Vol.80 (1), p.218-242
Main Author: Denis, Jeffrey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Indians
Canada
Colonialism
Colonization
Context
Discrimination
Fieldwork
Friendship
Group theory
Hostility
Ideology
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous Populations
Inequality
Intergroup Relations
Laissez faire
Market economies
Market Economy
Marriage
Municipalities
Native North Americans
Politics
Prejudice
Prejudices
Racial Differences
Racial inequality
Racism
Residential schools
Residents
Social Contact
Social processes
Social psychology
Spouses
Theory
Treaties
We they distinction
White people
Whites
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Summary:This article builds on group position theory and the subcategorization model of intergroup contact by illustrating how, in a small-town settler-colonial context, contact tends to reproduce, rather than challenge, the inequitable racial structure. In Northwestern Ontario, Indigenous-settler relations are characterized by widespread intergroup marriage and friendship as well as pervasive prejudice and discrimination. Using 18 months of fieldwork and 160 interviews and surveys with First Nations, Métis, and non-Indigenous residents, I show that although contact is associated with less "old-fashioned" prejudice (i.e., overt categorical hostility), it does not necessarily eliminate whites' superior sense of group position. Even white individuals who have close Indigenous friends or spouses often express laissez-faire racism. Three mutually reinforcing social processes—subtyping, ideology-based homophily, and political avoidance norms—interact to sustain whites' sense of group superiority and justifications for racial inequity. These processes are facilitated by historical and structural conditions, in this case colonization and small-town dynamics.
ISSN:0003-1224
1939-8271
DOI:10.1177/0003122414564998