The Effects of Classroom Racial Composition on Students' Interracial Friendliness.

This study examines the effects of racial composition of a classroom on students' cross-race and same-race friendships. Two "theories" of interracial sociability are discussed. The first argues that interracial friendliness is affected primarily by the number of opportunities students have for cross-race interaction relative to same-race interaction. It predicts that students in the numerical minority are likely to make more cross-race friendship choices than those in the majority. The second claims that the racial minority is socially threatened by the majority and tends to isolate itself from the more dominant and powerful other race. These predictions are examined in a longitudinal data set on 473 elementary school students in 18 desegregated classes over a school year. The results provide strong support for the opportunity hypothesis and show little evidence that being in the minority diminishes interracial friendliness. (Author/CMG)