Theory

Chapter 2 uses the examples of Batwa in Uganda, black and Latino boys in Oakland, Muslim immigrants in France, and Jews in Vienna to present and develop the theory of the exclusion cycle. The exclusion cycle results when behaviors of the majority and the marginalized minority interact and feed into one another. The cycle starts with anti-minority culture, which gives rise to discrimination against the minority. As members of the majority discriminate, members of the marginalized minority develop survival strategies. Members of the majority often dislike survival strategies used by the minority, ethnicize them, and incorrectly attribute them to the minority as such, and not the discrimination. Such attribution errors feed the already existing anti-minority culture and the cycle continues. After presenting the theory, the Chapter offers a brief overview of the literature on prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup contact, and discusses how positive intergroup contact might help break they cyclical dynamic.