The social distance perceptions of racial and ethnic groups by college students: A research note

Abstract

There is growing concern in our society regarding the resurgence of racist movements. There has been increased media coverage of these activities and educators warn that racism is on the rise in our schools and on college campuses. This article examines the similarity of responses of college students of various racial and ethnic groups. The Social Distance Scale was administered to 415 undergraduate students. The research reveals that, overall, most college students would be willing to admit most racial/ethnic groups to their clubs as personal chums or to their streets as neighbors. Iranians were consistently given the greatest distance (to citizenship in my country) by all groups. Implications of this study purport that schools as agents of socialization can expose students to multicultural diversity within an academic setting.