The Bogardus Social Distance Scale is a psychometric scale created to measure, in an empirical way, people’s willingness to participate in social contacts of varying degrees of closeness with members of diverse social groups, such as other racial and ethnic groups, homosexuals and so forth.
The scale asks a person to what extent they would accept a certain group. An average result of 1.00 for a group indicates no-social distance. The scale is cumulative (Guttman-esque?) as each item implies acceptance of all preceding ones.
- As close relatives by marriage (score 1.00)
- As my close personal friends (2.00)
- As neighbors on the same street (3.00)
- As co-workers in the same occupation (4.00)
- As citizens in my country (5.00)
- As only visitors in my country (6.00)
- Would exclude from my country (7.00)
The reason this drew my attention is that I just read about the Roma community in Hungary and found, not to my surprise (unfortunately), the following:
They account for 10% of the population (largest Roma community in any European country)
80% of them are unemployed (In Hungary the average unemployment rate is 7,7%)
In 2005 The Decade of Roma Inclusion was declared
Photo: winner of the Decade of Roma Inclusion Photo Award, 2007. Tunde Erika Palose, The World of Information
Tags: Bogardus Social Distance Scale, cumulative scale, decade of roma inclusion, exclusion, Guttman, Hungary, inclusion, Roma, social graphs, social traits
