Besides being a rattling good read, the Harry Potter novels may also help reduce prejudice towards gays, immigrants and refugees among readers, according to new research.
The Potter stories are littered with groups who suffer discrimination, from “mudbloods” (with no magical parents) to elves, goblins and “half-giants”. Much of the action revolves around Harry and his friends standing up for these minorities.
“Harry has meaningful contact with characters belonging to stigmatised groups,” say the researchers from a group of Italian universities. “He tries to understand and appreciate their difficulties … and fights for a world free of social inequalities.”
Setting out to test whether Harry’s epic battles against Voldemort – whose beliefs have frequently been compared to Nazism – might have a positive impact on Potter fans, the academics conducted three studies.
In the first, for six weeks they read selected excerpts from
