AJC Study Finds Intergroup Relations Improving As American Society Becomes More Diverse

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 24 January 2002

The American Jewish Committee today issued a pioneering research study, Intergroup Relations in a Diverse America, that offers an incisive portrait of major ethnic groups in a changing American society.

"Virtually across the board Americans have become more tolerant in their views on intergroup relations, more supportive of racial and ethnic equality and more accepting of immigration," concludes the report's author, Dr. Tom W. Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.

Using data from the General Social Survey, Dr. Smith examines the attitudes of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Jews towards each other as well as their perceptions of their own respective groups on a broad range of issues, including:

- the perceived contributions of various groups to American society

- the ethnic images of Whites, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews

- desired social distance between groups as measured in terms of neighborhood integration and intermarriage

- language concerns, including bilingualism in the schools

- estimated population size of groups

Interestingly, respondents to the survey "have a poor understanding of the actual demographic composition of American society," according to Dr. Smith. "They underestimate the White share of the national population and greatly overestimate the sizes of all minority groups."

Dr. Smith also examines trends over the past decade, concluding that intergroup relations and contacts in the United States have made enormous gains, but there still is considerable ground to cover before American practices catch up with the founding principles of this nation.

During the past decade, "support for explicit programs of racial discrimination and segregation have receded to small levels, negative images about group characteristics and the causes of intergroup disparities have diminished and the desire to retain barriers between groups has declined," according to Dr. Smith.

In addition, "opposition to immigration and pessimistic judgments about the impact of immigrants on society have fallen sharply," Dr. Smith continued. "However, not changed is support for policies to reduce socioeconomic gaps between Blacks and Whites."

Breaking down the respondents in each ethnic group, Dr. Smith found that "while men and women differ little in their views on intergroup relations and contacts, sharp differences appear with age cohort, education, region, community type and, to a lesser extent, religion."

Dr. Smith's other studies for the American Jewish Committee include What do Americans think About Jews (1991); Anti-Semitism in Contemporary America (1994); A Survey of the Religious Right (1996); Estimating the Muslim Population in the United States (2001); Religious Diversity in America: The Emergence of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Others (2002).

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org