Intergroup Contact and Solidarity-based Collective Action Intentions: The Role of Affective and Identity-based Processes

Immigration flows have been a continuous cause of group tensions between citizens of the host country and immigrant groups. While some people protest against letting more refugees or immigrants into their country, others join solidarity actions aimed to improve immigrants' disadvantaged situation in society. This thesis examined possible psychological correlates of solidarity-based collective action intentions. Integrating insights from contact and collective action research, I investigated the associations of both positive and negative intergroup contact with solidarity-based collective action intentions among members of majority groups. Furthermore, the role of affective and identity-based processes as psychological processes explaining these associations was tested. In two cross-sectional samples from Greece (Study 1, N = 132 Greek adults) and Turkey (Study 2, N = 525 Turkish adults), positive and negative contact were associated with (respectively, more and less) solidarity-based collective action, yet these associations were particularly pronounced for positive contact. A three-wave longitudinal study conducted in the UK (Study 3, N = 603 British adults) further confirmed the associations of positive contact, but not of negative contact, with solidarity-based collective action over time. Extending the research scope, I also investigated the associations of contact and efficacy beliefs with both online and offline solidarity-based collective action intentions in two different settings, the UK (Study 4, N = 342) and Thailand (Study 5, N = 305). Positive contact and efficacy beliefs were related with both online and offline collective action in both contexts while the relationships with negative contact were less pronounced in the UK but not in Thailand. Across the five studies, outgroup identification, outgroup empathy, and group-based anger appeared as most consistent mediators. This work contributes to the literature by demonstrating the pronounced role of positive contact on predicting solidarity-based collective action intentions and identifying some of the affective and identity-based processes for this relationship.