Building on the legacies of Allport, Williams and Lewin, the field of intergroup relations has made great strides in the development of theory, research, and practice in the last half-century. This issue examines the integration of these three strands of scholarship and action as we look ahead to the next half-century of psychological work on intergroup relations. The contributions in this issue bring together researchers, practitioners and practitioner-researchers; expand the focus of research and practice to prejudice reduction and social inclusion and include commentaries from pioneers in intergroup relations--Walter Stephan, James Banks, Thomas Pettigrew and Patricia Gurin--who provide insights into bridging theory, research and practice.

Author Biography

Biren (Ratnesh) A. Nagda received his Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently an Associate Professor of Social Work and Director of the Intergroup Dialogue, Education and Action (IDEA) Center at the University of Washington. He co-developed the intergroup dialogue model for college students while doing his doctorate work at the University of Michigan. His research and teaching interests focus on cultural diversity and social justice, intergroup dialogue, and empowerment-oriented social work practice and education. He is the recipient of numerous departmental and university-wide teaching awards, including the 2001 University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award. Linda R. Tropp received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Boston College and a member of the Governing Council of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Her main research programs concern expectations for and outcomes of intergroup contact among members of minority and majority status groups, group membership and identification with social groups, and responses to prejudice and disadvantage among members of socially devalued groups. She received the 2003 Gordon W. Allport Intergroup Relations Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for her paper A Meta-Analytic Test and Reformulation of Intergroup Contact Theory (co-authored with Thomas F. Pettigrew). Elizabeth Levy Paluck, M.S., is a doctoral candidate in the Psychology Department at Yale University. Her research interests include gender, intergroup bias, prejudice, and conflict, and research methodology for the evaluation of social programs. Her dissertation reviews evidence for the efficacy of prejudice reduction techniques in the laboratory and in the field. She is currently conducting three field experiments evaluating the impact of three different prejudice reduction interventions in the US and in Rwanda.