# Fostering Solidarity Among Ethnic Minority Groups: Addressing the Role of Inter-Minority Contact in Cross-Cultural Contexts

## TL;DR

This study explores how contact between different ethnic minority groups can promote solidarity and reduce social inequalities.

## Contribution

It highlights the novel role of positive inter-minority contact in fostering cooperation and reveals complex interactions with majority-minority contact.

## Key findings

- Positive inter-minority contact is linked to solidarity through affective injustice.
- Positive inter-minority contact reduces the negative impact of majority group contact on solidarity.
- Negative inter-minority contact shows inconsistent effects, with context-specific outcomes in Turkey.

## Abstract

The present research investigates when and how contact among ethnic minority groups members is linked with solidarity, as a joint effort aimed at mitigating social inequalities. Two cross-sectional studies in Belgium (Study 1a) and Turkey (Study 1b) with North African immigrants and Iraqi immigrants respectively, were conducted. Convergent results supported the assumptions that having positive inter-minority contact is linked with solidarity with other ethnic minorities and the association is mediated by affective injustice. In addition, across both studies, having positive inter-minority contact attenuated the link between positive contact with the majority group and lower inter-minority solidarity and it enhanced the link between negative contact with the majority group and higher inter-minority solidarity. Inconsistent results were found for negative inter-minority contact. Only in the Turkish context, it was positively associated with affective injustice that in turn showed an indirect effect in the link between negative inter-minority contact and solidarity. Overall, results underscore the pivotal role of positive inter-minority contact in fostering cooperation among ethnic minority groups and highlight for the first time the complex interplay between the valence of majority-minority and inter-minority contact experiences.