Majority friendship and support for social change: Examining the role of ethnic and politicized identifications among Indigenous people in Chile

Abstract

This study revisits an alleged ‘sedative’ effect of intergroup friendship on minority support for social change. Focusing on support for political action and empowering policies among Indigenous minorities in Chile, we examine both friendship with majority Chileans and personal discrimination; we distinguish ethnic and politicized minority identifications as hypothetical processes connecting intergroup contact with political outcomes; and we propose majority friends' perceived valuation of Indigenous minority friendships as a hypothetical buffer against sedation. Drawing on a large-scale stratified national sample of Indigenous peoples (N = 1856, aged 17–90), we tested half-longitudinal, (fully) cross-lagged models over 2 years. Qualifying earlier evidence of sedation, negative effects of majority friendship on minority support for social change were exclusively found cross-sectionally, and only when majority friends were perceived not to value minority friendships. In contrast, majority friendship had direct positive effects on support for social change over time. We also found that friendship promoted politicized identification over time, which in turn was associated with more support for social change. Personal discrimination predicted more support for social change both directly and indirectly. We conclude that majority friendship need not compromise and may instead promote minority group members' support for change towards equality.