The Internet, Social Media, and Privacy

The Internet, Social Media, and Privacy

Race Soc Probl
DOI 10.1007/s12552-009-9002-6

From Separate Corners to Dialogue and Action
Biren (Ratnesh) A. Nagda Æ Patricia Gurin Æ
Nicholas Sorensen Æ Chloe´ Gurin-Sands Æ
Shardae M. Osuna

Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009

Abstract How can higher education programs engage
students in building a shared commons to address
inequalities and foster commitment to intergroup collaboration? Intergroup dialogue is one such possibility to
provide forums for meaningful engagement among students from diverse backgrounds. Findings from field
experiments at nine colleges and universities show that
students in intergroup dialogues increased significantly
more than counterparts in control groups and social science
comparison groups in their critiques of inequality and their
commitments to post-college action to redress inequalities.
Further, students in intergroup dialogues rated the frequency of the core communication processes more highly
than the social science comparison students. The communication processes help account for the greater increase in
students’ critiques of inequality and commitment to postcollege actions.
Keywords Intergroup dialogue Á Intergroup relations Á
Inequality Á Education Á Communication Á Community
building
I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges
of our time unless we solve them together—unless we
perfect our union by understanding that we have

Biren (Ratnesh) A. Nagda (&)
University of Washington School of Social Work,
4101 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98105-6299, USA
e-mail: ratnesh@u.washington.edu
P. Gurin Á N. Sorensen Á C. Gurin-Sands Á S. M. Osuna
University of Michigan, Program on Intergroup Relations,
3000 Michigan Union, 530 S. State Street, Ann Arbor,
MI 48109-1308, USA

different stories, but we have common hopes; that we
may not look the same and we may not have come
from the same place, but we all want to move in the
same direction—toward a better future. …But race is...

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