Tolerance in multicultural societies: Practices to mitigate ethnic and cultural distance

The analysis of the connotative function of prejudices touches on the category of social distance. By social distance we actually mean not accepting certain kinds of relations with other ethnic communities (nations). Negative ethnic stereotypes and emphasized social distance are an expression of negative ethnic attitudes – ethnic prejudices towards a certain nation and represent a hostile attitude, i. e. they are an expression of a negative attitude towards that nation, and, as a rule, they are the sign of the existence of ethnocentrism. The concept of social distance in sociological theory was introduced by R. Park. According to this author, social distance is an expression of levels and measures for understanding and intimacy that characterize pro-social and social relations in general. Key words: social distance, ethnic communities, prejudices, cohesion, ethnic segregation