School of Psychology, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2020 Oct;59(4):922-944. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12370. Epub 2020 Feb 17.
Institutional structures of segregation typically entrench social inequality and sustain wider patterns of intergroup conflict and discrimination. However, initiatives to dismantle such structures may provoke resistance. Executive proposals to dismantle Northern Ireland's peace walls by 2023 provide a compelling case study of the nature of such resistance and may thus provide important clues about how it might be overcome. Drawing on a field survey conducted in north Belfast (n = 488), this research explored the role of physical proximity, realistic and symbolic threat, and past experiences of positive and negative cross-community contact on Catholic and Protestant residents' support for removing the walls. Structural equation modelling suggested that both forms of contact and proximity were significantly related to such support and that these relationships were partially mediated by realistic threat. It also suggested that positive contact moderated the effects of proximity. That is, for residents who had more frequent positive interactions with members of the other community, proximity to a peace wall had a weaker relationship with resistance to their removal than residents who had less frequent contact.
隔离的制度结构通常会加深社会不平等，并维持更广泛的群体间冲突和歧视模式。然而，拆除这些结构的举措可能会引发抵制。到 2023 年拆除北爱尔兰和平墙的行政提案为这种抵制的性质提供了一个引人注目的案例研究，因此可能为如何克服这种抵制提供了重要线索。本研究利用在北贝尔法斯特（n=488）进行的实地调查，探讨了物理接近度、现实和象征性威胁，以及过去积极和消极的跨社区接触对天主教和新教居民支持拆除围墙的影响。结构方程模型表明，这两种形式的接触和接近都与这种支持有显著的关系，而且这些关系部分受到现实威胁的中介。它还表明，积极的接触可以调节接近的影响。也就是说，对于那些与另一个社区的成员有更频繁的积极互动的居民来说，与和平墙的接近与对拆除它们的抵制的关系比那些接触较少的居民弱。
