Roma minority and ethnic prejudice in preadolescence. Processes of inclusion and exclusion in school’s context

Abstract

On the basis of fieldwork from high school classrooms in social context in which Roma and non Roma coexist daily, this paper reviews developmental research on ethnic prejudice during childhood and preadolescence. It explores the differences between adult and child prejudice, as well as interethnic relations key elements like, the construction of social category, self-identification, early attitudes and skills that emerge during preadolescence. At the same time, processes of ethnic inclusion and exclusion in classroom are discussed. Analysis of the three types of data (discourse, answers to questionnaires and networks) in an intentional sample of 40 non-Roma students from Year 9 in two classrooms of public schools -located in two different Granada’s towns that have large Gypsy populations- shows differences in the development of prejudice and its influence on the interactions qualitatively significant.