Types of Contact: A Field Experiment on Collaborative and Adversarial Caste Integration
94 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2020
Date Written: 2020
Abstract
I estimate the effects of collaborative and adversarial intergroup contact. I randomly assigned Indian men from different castes to participate in cricket leagues or to serve as a control group. League players faced variation in collaborative contact, through random assignment to homogeneous-caste or mixed-caste teams, and adversarial contact, through random assignment of opponents. Collaborative contact increases cross-caste friendships and efficiency in trade, and reduces own-caste favoritism. In contrast, adversarial contact generally reduces cross-caste interaction and efficiency. League participation reduces intergroup differences, suggesting that the positive aspects of intergroup contact more than offset the negative aspects in this setting.
Keywords: contact hypothesis, caste, social interactions, India, field experiment
JEL Classification: C930, D900, D910, O120
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation