Social Context Factors and Attitudes toward Interracial Relationships on a South African University Campus

The present study used a stratified random sample of undergraduate students at a major Metropolitan University in the Gauteng province of South Africa to examine aspects of the contact hypothesis as originally formulated by Gordon Allport. Specifically, the study sought to examine the effects of two social settings, namely, educational and religious settings on students’ attitudes toward interracial relationships. We failed to find empirical support for our hypotheses that the higher education and religious settings would engender favourable attitudes towards interracial relationships. Rather we found the secondary education setting, being African, having intimate interactions with people of different racial backgrounds positively influence students attitudes towards interracial relationships.