Social identity and prejudice in alevis and sunnis(The sample of Malatya)

The aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes and stereotypes of Alevis and Sunnis toward each other in terms of Social Identity and Social Contact theories. Within the framework of Social Identity Theory, it was hypothesized that the degree of Alevis' and Sunnis' identification with their religious in-group would have an impact on their attitudes toward out-group. It was also hypothesized that prejudicial attitudes would decline as intergroup contact increased. The sample was consisted of 153 Sunni and 163 Alevi participants living in Malatya, Turkey. Survey form including the measures of religious identification, social contact, stereotype and social distance was applied to participants. The research findings revealed that there were significant differences between Alevis and Sunnis in importance of religious identity, public religious identity, social contact quantity and social distance toward in-group and out-group. Both Sunnis and Alevis were found in higher levels of social distance preferences for out-group in contrast to the in-group. Also, unlike the Alevis, Sunnis have attributed positive stereotypes against both in and out- groups. As a result, ıt was determined that religious identification affects attitudes toward out-group, but only for Alevi group. For the Alevi group, prejudicial attitudes has increased as importance of religious identity grows. As expected, for both groups, social distance toward outgroup was found to decrease as intergroups contact increased. The research results were interpreted in the context of studies on literature and discussed. Key words: Alevis and Sunnis, Social Identity, Social Contact, Prejudice,Stereotyp