Proactive Performance: A Context for Intergroup Contact

Over the years, Allport's (1954 Allport , G. W. ( 1954 ). The nature of prejudice . Reading , MA : Addison-Wesley . [Google Scholar]) contact hypothesis has become the primary theoretical approach to intergroup contact, yet researchers are just now beginning to explore specific contact contexts. This article introduces proactive performance as a context for intergroup contact. Specifically, interACT, a collegiate performance troupe located at California State University, Long Beach, is used to demonstrate how proactive performance meets the requisite conditions of the contact hypothesis; i.e., promoting social change. Moreover, proactive performance is able to account for several important mediating and moderating variables in intergroup contact. With this in mind, this article is illustrative of praxis, or the intersection between theory and practice.