本文擬檢視台灣新興族群關係中的外籍婚配現象，並以兒子娶外籍媳婦為例，藉由所表達對不同族群之外籍媳婦的社會距離，說明影響民眾族群親近感差異的重要因素。鑑於近年來族群關係的研究報告紛紛指出政治因素的優勢影響，甚至超越個人接觸機會所可能產生的效果，故本文主旨在釐清社會接觸相對於政治態度的影響效果。本文提出社會距離概念的適用性之後，即深入檢視社會接觸的理論基礎，強調影響族群接觸的不同效應之個人、團體和社會脈絡因素，進而比較社會接觸相對於政治態度對族群通婚態度之可能影響。研究假設指陳在考量社會接觸的不同類型後，應能證明對不同之族群通婚或婚姻社會距離會造成不同影響。本文分析資料取自2004年社會意向電話調查，該次調查一共訪問1,217 位20歲以上的成人樣本。以目前台灣人數最多的四類外籍新娘— 大陸人、東南亞華僑、越南人、越南以外的其他東南亞籍—為對象之分析結果顯示，政治態度雖然對通婚之社會距離感有重要影響，但社會接觸的顯著性亦同時得到證實。此外，個人社會接觸與政治態度的交互作用並不顯著，表示二者對族群態度皆有獨立的作用。回應本文主旨方面，一般表面的社會接觸經驗或是個人網絡中的實質接觸經驗，對於減低社會距離或促進族群親近感，仍然有其顯著效果，且視不同婚配對象而產生相應的效果，證實通婚對象之文化親近性和社會發展程度的重要性。本文最後強調社會接觸對影響個人族群態度—尤其是通婚接受度—的重要性，某種程度上呼應了傳統社會學的信念。

This paper examines an important aspect of the emergence of cross-border marriage in Taiwan. The social distance expressed toward four major types of foreign brides--Mainland Chinese, South East Asian Chinese, Vietnamese, and other countries in South East Asia--is examined in the hypothetical context of a son marrying the specified foreign bride. Since marriage in typical Chinese culture has been an important family matter, having a foreign daughter-in-law from the parents' perspective is a culturally significant situation. The theoretical framework is derived from the classical contact hypothesis with an intention to compare the relative importance between political factors versus social contact in explaining the marital social distance revealed. Data are taken from the 2004 Social Image Telephone Survey with a random, island-wide sample of 1,217 adults. Based on Bogardus's and Allport's hypothesis, social contact is categorized into general contact and true contact. The results indicate that, consistent with previous findings, political attitudes such as political inclination and ethnic evaluation are most salient, but both types of social contact significantly reduce the social distance toward different types of foreign brides. No possible negative effect from casual contact in terms of widening social distance is found. The importance of social contact in reducing ethnic antagonism is thus supported. Furthermore, the interaction between political factors and social contact does not reach significance for all types of foreign bride, and adding the interaction effect also does not alter significant relations found with various political indicators. The paper argues that the larger political social atmosphere provides opportunities of social contact between different ethnic groups and will thus serve as an effective mechanism contributing to better ethnic relations in Taiwan.