Contact in meditatieverenigingen en meditatie beoefening, de oplossingen tot alle vooroordelen?

There is a wide gap between highly and lowly educated people that divides Dutch society. Because of this gap prejudices are formed, dividing both groups even further from each other. However, there are some locations where these groups still mingle, one prominent meeting place is in leisure associations. Allport’s (1954) intergroup contact theory states that when four factors are in place, prejudices between groups can be reduced. These four factors are, 1. The feeling of equal status, 2. Shared goals, 3. Common effort and, 4. Support by the authority. This research will test Allport’s (1954) theory in the setting of a meditation association, where individuals from different high and low educated groups come together to meditate. Theory about the activity meditation states that it also reduces prejudices, making this setting a testing ground for two prejudice reducing factors. This research shows that contact between intergroups in meditation associations does indeed reduce prejudices. The contact in these associations is in line with Allport’s (1954) four factors of the intergroup contact theory. Also the activity meditation does reduce prejudices. However it turns out that the activity meditation has a larger effect on the reduction of prejudices in the experience of participants than intergroup contact.