Ethnic Awareness and Attitudes: a Developmental Study of Maori and Pakeha Children in New Zealand

Abstract

In the year 1962, approximately every fourteenth person in New Zealand is a Maori, and is is therefore a member of a "coloured" minority undergoing acculturation to a European society. In addition to the socio-cultural problems usually association with such acculturation, there are certain difficulties in the relationship of Maori and pakeha (European) which contribute to a situation of stress. Directed towards the Maori are a variety of attitudes and stereotyped beliefs which range from admiration or acceptance to disdain or thinly-disguised hostility. These attitudes have already stimulated the curiosity of social researchers. Of the Maori's reactions to this behaviour, however, little is known. In the broadest sense, the present study represents an attempt to analyze the intergroup attitudes held by a section of the Maori and pakeha community. Particular attention is directed towards the incidence of unfavourable attitudes, often referred to by the generic term "prejudice".