Integrating Sociocultural Insights to Complement Classical Dimensions of Intergroup Contact and Enrich Understanding of Interracial Contact

The current review incorporates a sociocultural perspective into the intergroup contact framework as applied to interracial contact. Integrating research from cultural psychology and grounded in a selves-in-contact approach to studying interracial interactions, we advance insights about the sociocultural self in a social and historical context that complements and expands research across three dimensions typically examined in intergroup contact research. Specifically, the valence dimension, the quantity and quality dimension, and a dimension reflecting how contact can differentially impact dominant/majority and marginalized/minoritized group outcomes. Centering minoritized perspectives, we outline evidence suggesting that interracial contact involving the recognition and engagement with racially minoritized groups' culture, history, and lived experiences highlight the benefits of “constructive” negative contact and the utility of contact content, while promoting mutually beneficial collective action outcomes among minoritized and majority group members. We provide recommendations on how this approach may apply to other dimensions of contact and suggest future work while cautioning the over-application of this perspective across contexts of colonization and exploitation.