Intergroup contact research has expanded exponentially in the last few decades, with researchers employing a widening range of methods to offer new insights into the effects of both positive and negative contact experiences. In this commentary, we discuss the contributions of three papers to this special issue of the Journal of Social Issues on advances in intergroup contact research, namely Schäfer et al.’s (2021) review of research on negative intergroup contact experiences, Hässler et al.’s (2020) review of research on intergroup contact and social change, and O'Donnell et al.’s (2021) review of technological and analytic advances in contact research. Having outlined the key arguments of each paper, we then offer some theoretical and methodological reflections, also discussing potential gaps, connections, opportunities, and future directions along the way. We end by reflecting on a common theme that permeates our commentary: the need to contextualize adequately the dynamics of intergroup contact across a range of everyday settings. Here we argue that to fully understand how to promote beneficial forms of intergroup contact, we need to consider more carefully how contact is experienced, enacted, and evaluated “on the ground” by participants themselves. This requires work of both theoretical and methodological innovation.

中文翻译：

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负面联系，集体行动和社会变革：批判性思考，技术进步和新方向

在过去的几十年中，群体间的联系研究呈指数增长，研究人员采用了广泛的方法，以提供有关正向和负向接触经历的影响的新见解。在这篇评论中，我们讨论了三篇论文对社会问题杂志关于团体间联系研究的进展的特殊贡献，即Schäfer等人（2021年）对负面团体间联系经历研究的综述，Hässler等人。 。（2020）对小组间联系和社会变革研究的综述，以及O'Donnell等人（2021）对联系研究的技术和分析进展的综述。概述了每篇论文的关键论点之后，我们将提供一些理论和方法上的思考，并讨论潜在的差距，联系，机会，以及未来的发展方向。最后，我们思考一个贯穿于我们评论的共同主题：需要在各种日常环境中充分考虑群体间联系的动态。在这里，我们认为，要充分理解如何促进团体间联系的有益形式，我们需要更仔细地考虑参与者自己如何“体验”，制定和评估联系。这需要理论和方法上的创新。我们需要更仔细地考虑参与者自己是如何“实地”体验，制定和评估联系的。这需要理论和方法上的创新。我们需要更仔细地考虑参与者自己是如何“实地”体验，制定和评估联系的。这需要理论和方法上的创新。