Please cite this article in press as: Bikmen, N., & Sunar, D. Difficult dialogs: Majority group members’ willing- ness to talk about inequality with different minority groups. International Journal of Intercultural Relations (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2012.11.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model IJIR-938; No. of Pages 10 International Journal of Intercultural Relations xxx (2012) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Intercultural Relations journa l h o me pag e: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel Difficult dialogs: Majority group members’ willingness to talk about inequality with different minority groups Nida Bikmen a,∗ , Diane Sunar b a Denison University, USA b Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 May 2012 Received in revised form 20 October 2012 Accepted 4 November 2012 Keywords: Intergroup contact Cultural diversity Common ingroup identity Power inequality a b s t r a c t The present study explored attitudes of a majority group, Turks, toward dialog with two minority groups, Kurds and Armenians, in Turkey. We examined whether Turks would be equally likely to avoid discussing inequality (power talk) in imaginary dialogs with Kurds and Armenians, two groups that while equally devalued differ in their likelihood of being considered ingroup members. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that because Turks share a common religious identity with Kurds but not with Armenians, they would be more willing to engage in power talk with Kurds than with Armenians. In addition, we explored the role of intergroup contact, majority group identification (Turkish and Muslim), social dominance orientation (SDO), and the legitimizing ideologies of belief in cultural diversity and perceptions of ethnic discrimination as predictors of willingness for power talk with each group. Ethnic Turks were more willing to talk about commonalities with both minority groups, and less willing to talk about power inequalities with either group, even less so with Armenians than with Kurds. As expected, this difference was moderated by religious identification, such that Turks with stronger Muslim identification were more willing to have power talk with Kurds but not with Armenians. These findings point to the importance of common ingroup identity in majority members’ responses to different minority groups. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Recent research on intergroup dialog has revealed that, while advantaged group members are just as willing to talk about commonalities as are members of disadvantaged groups, they are significantly less willing to discuss differences in power and access to resources (Saguy, Dovidio, & Pratto, 2008). While commonality talk is important for improving attitudes and fostering intergroup empathy, arguably, power talk is necessary to raise awareness of social inequality and encourage critical thinking to seek ways of redressing inequality. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors facilitate such conversations. The present study was conducted to explore (1) whether majority group members differentiate between minority groups when considering dialogs that address intergroup commonalities and power inequalities, and (2) the predictors of willing- ness to engage in power dialog with different subordinate groups, especially the role of a common ingroup identity (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Specifically, we examined whether Turkish university students would be equally willing to have conversa- tions that focus on inequality with Kurds and with Armenians in Turkey. Even though both groups are ethnic minorities and both are subject to equally and highly negative attitudes by ethnic Turks (Bikmen, 1999; Türk Sosyal Bilimler Derne˘ gi, 2005), we argue that because Kurds are Muslim and thus, not an official minority, they are included in the common Turkish-Muslim ∗ Corresponding author at: Denison University, Department of Psychology, Granville, OH 43023, USA. Tel.: +1 7405878545. E-mail address: bikmenn@denison.edu (N. Bikmen). 0147-1767/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2012.11.002