Relational Integration as The Analysis of Friendship, Negative Ties and Ethnic Identity Among Adolescents = Kapcsolati integráció. Serdülőkori barátság, negatív kötelékek és rassz szerinti identitás elemzése

Abstract

Theoretical contributions: - It establishes a relational framework in which the notion of dependence is introduced making it possible to connect the different levels of social scientific inquiry. - It introduces social identity theory within the relational framework in order to examine racial identity formation more precisely. - It describes and operationalise a dual identity concept, as it takes not only selfidentification but also perceived identity into account. - It provides arguments of the socially constructed and context-dependent nature of race from a relational viewpoint. - Finally, it provides further arguments that individuals’ racial membership is not fixed, but instead, it can be different across social contexts and change over time. Empirical contributions: - It provides evidence that adolescents, in general, are constantly looking for possible friends, among which only a few become stable ones. - It finds that racial heterogeneity of the friendship dyad reduces the stability of the friendship, but social status can mitigate the effect of race on friendship retention. That is: individuals with low SES are more likely to terminate friendship relations. - It reveals relational segregation operates through negative ties more strongly than through friendship. - Further results show that different aspects of race influence friendships and negative ties differently, and inconsistencies in someone's racial categorization play a crucial role in social rejection. - It finds, moreover, that that in inter-racial relationship formation, perceptions have even more important role than self-identifications which highlights the importance of studying racial identity in a relational framework. - The big picture suggests that instead of integration, the examined groups follow a path towards a state where majority students exclude minority students, who, at the same time, also develop a rejection towards their own group.