Social Interaction of Black and White College Students

Numerous studies dealing with a wide range of variables have been conducted on interracial communication. Most frequently, they have concentrated on the interaction between American racial and ethnic groups and have been concerned with promoting race relations. This has occurred because the researchers have accepted the historical circumstance of blacks and whites in the United States to be one of conflict. The great bulk of these studies have been limited to research dealing with language, values, and verbal styles of blacks and whites. However, few researchers have examined social interaction of blacks and whites in public places. Erving Goffman's work on communication in public places is essentially devoid of information about blacks and whites. Consequently, the objective of this article is to report the results of an examination of the social interaction between blacks and whites during the lunch hour in the cafeteria of a major public university. Limitations of our study have been noted. We did not attempt