Group conflict, or hostilities between different groups, is a feature common to all forms of human social organization (e.g., sports teams, ethnic groups, nations, religions, gangs), and also occurs in social animals. Although group conflict is one of the most complex phenomena studied by social scientists, the history of the human race evidences a series of group-level conflicts that have gained notoriety over the years. For example, from 1820 to 1945, it has been estimated that at least 59 million persons were killed during conflicts between groups of one type or another. Literature suggests that the number of fatalities nearly doubled between the years 1914 to 1964 as a result of further group conflict.
Group conflict can be separated into two sub-categories of conflict: inter-group conflict (in which distinct groups of individuals are at odds with one another), and intra-group conflict (in which select individuals that are part of the same group clash with one another). Although both forms of conflict have the ability to spiral upward in severity, it has been noted that conflict present at the group level (i.e., inter-group rivalries) is generally considered to be more powerful than conflict present at an individual level – a phenomenon known as the
discontinuity effect
The discontinuity effect is known as the markedly greater competitiveness displayed between different, interacting groups relative to the competitiveness displayed when individuals interact with other individuals.Forsyth, D. R. (2009). ''Group dyna ...
.
[Forsyth, D. R. (2009). ''Group dynamics'' (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.]
Intergroup conflict
Sources
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
, specifically the
discontinuity effect
The discontinuity effect is known as the markedly greater competitiveness displayed between different, interacting groups relative to the competitiveness displayed when individuals interact with other individuals.Forsyth, D. R. (2009). ''Group dyna ...
of inter-group conflict, suggests that "groups are generally even more competitive and aggressive than individuals". Two main sources of intergroup conflict have been identified: "competition for valued material resources, according to
realistic conflict theory
Realistic conflict theory (RCT), also known as realistic group conflict theory (RGCT), is a social psychological model of intergroup conflict. The theory explains how intergroup hostility can arise as a result of conflicting goals and competition ...
, or for social rewards like respect and esteem...as described by
relative deprivation theory"
Group conflict can easily enter an escalating spiral of hostility marked by
polarisation of views into black and white, with comparable actions viewed in diametrically opposite ways: "we offer concessions, but they attempt to lure us with ploys. We are steadfast and courageous, but they are unyielding, irrational, stubborn, and blinded by ideology".
It is widely believed that intergroup and intragroup hostility are (at least to some degree) inversely related: that "there is, unhappily, an inverse relationship between external wars and internal strife". Thus "in politics, for example, everyone can get an extraordinarily comforting feeling of mutual support from their group by focussing on an enemy".
Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
described a similarly quasi-benign version, whereby "it is precisely communities with adjoining territories, and related to each other in other ways as well, who are engaged in constant feuds and ridiculing each other like the Spaniards and Portuguese, for instance...
sa convenient and relatively harmless satisfaction of the inclination to aggression, by means of which cohesion between the members of the community is made easier". The harder version of the theory would suggest that "pent-up sub-group aggression, if it cannot combine with the pent-up aggression of other sub-groups to attack a common, foreign enemy, will vent itself in the form of riots, persecutions and rebellions".
Belief domains that contribute
Through an extensive literature review, Roy J. Eidelson and Judy I. Eidelson, identified parallels between individuals and the collective world views of groups on the basis of five key belief domains.
[Eidelson, R. J., & Eidelson, J. I. (2003). "Dangerous Ideas: Five Beliefs That Propel Groups Toward Conflict". '']American Psychologist
''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering science ...
''. Vol. 58. No. 3, 182–192.
* Superiority: At an individual level, this belief revolves around a person's enduring conviction that he or she is better than other people in important ways. At the group level, superiority includes shared convictions of moral superiority, entitlement, being the chosen and having a special destiny.
Being chosen, the belief that one's own group has a superior cultural heritage (e.g., history, values, language, tradition) is common among groups who base their identity on their ethnicity. The development of Hitler's ideology of Aryans as a "
master race
The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific concept in Nazism, Nazi ideology in which the putative "Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of Race (classification of human beings), human racial hierarchy. Members wer ...
" is one example of this belief. This belief can be unconscious, with group members unaware – "The power and influence of such a worldview are directly related to its operation as an invisible veil, which makes it difficult for individuals, groups, and institutions to see their harmful consequences". These authors noted that several committees studying racism were using the term ethnocentric
monoculturalism
Monoculturalism is the policy or process of supporting, advocating, or allowing the expression of the culture of a single social or ethnic group. It generally stems from beliefs within the dominant group that their cultural practices are superior t ...
to describe this belief in the superiority of your own group's cultural heritage (including history, values, language, traditions, arts and crafts, etc.) over that of other groups. As part of this belief system they also noted a corresponding belief in the inferiority of all other group's heritage, the ability to impose their standards and beliefs on less powerful groups, evidence of the group's core beliefs and values in their practices, programs and policies as well as in the institutions and structures of the group's society, and that they were able to operate outside the level of conscious awareness.
* Injustice: At the individual level, this belief revolves around perceived mistreatment by others, and/or the world at large. At the group level, this translates to a world view that the ingroup has significant and legitimate grievances against an outgroup.
This belief is seen as contributing greatly to the impetus for war over the past two centuries, as the majority of wars in that time period have centered on issues of ''justice'' rather than security or power (Welch, 1993). Injustice, in a group setting, can be based on the shared belief that their group has not achieved desired outcomes due to the actions or inactions of a more powerful group that has created a biased or undesirable outcome, and not due to the inadequacies or actions of the group itself. Volkan termed the phrase Chosen Traumas to refer to the "mental representation of an event that has caused a large group to face drastic losses, feel helpless and victimized by another group" that are distorted to perpetuate the injustice belief.
*
Vulnerability
Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally."
A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...
: At the individual level, vulnerability refers to a person's belief that he or she is perpetually in harm's way. At the group level, this belief is manifested in the form of fears about the future. This vulnerability can manifest itself in a group as catastrophic thinking – when the envisioned worst-case scenario is seen as being inevitable.
Chirot (2001) notes that the genocides of Armenia, Germany, Cambodia, and Rwanda shared a common belief that "if they did not destroy their real or imagined enemies first, they would themselves be annihilated" (p. 10).
* Distrust: At the individual level, this belief focuses on the presumed intent of others to cause harm and/or exhibit hostility. The notion of trust is often seen by psychologists as the first challenge of psychosocial development. At the group level, this worldview focuses specifically on the perspective that outgroups are dishonest, untrustworthy and have negative intentions toward the in group. In more extreme manifestations, this belief is similar to ''collective paranoia'', which is defined as collectively held beliefs, either false or
exaggerated
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Exaggeration may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Exaggeration can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke stron ...
that cluster around ideas of being harmed, harassed, threatened, or otherwise disparaged by malevolent outgroups Even when no such hostility exists, this distrust belief can cause group members to see any behavior by the other as hostile and malevolent.
* Helplessness: At the individual level, helplessness focuses on the belief that even carefully planned and executed actions will fail to produce the desired outcome. When taken at the group level, it translates into a collective mindset of powerlessness and dependency. The group shares a pessimistic approach which focuses on their own weaknesses, and attributes setbacks to their own limitations.
Helplessness, when it exists as a shared belief within a group, serves as a constraint on organized political movement, as those who participate in a social movement must see themselves as capable of righting the wrongs they perceive.
Donald Horowitz also argues that the belief, regardless of its accuracy, that ones group is behind another group can also contribute to conflict and that such groups often face severe anxiety about threats emanating from other groups. The backwards group fears it will be ultimately dominated by more advanced groups. Backwards groups tend to view their individual members with negative qualities, such as laziness and lack of intelligence, while collectively they view themselves as unorganized and lacking unity, with members looking out only for themselves and not their group. In contrast, advanced groups' members are perceived as possessing positive qualities, such as conscientiousness, intelligence and industriousness, while collectively they are perceived as well-organized, cohesive and committed to advancing their group interests. Thus advanced groups are perceived as possessing superior attributes on both individual and collective levels. The resultant anxiety felt by backwards groups can cause them to believe their very survival as a group is a stake and that they risk disappearing, replaced by more advanced groups. Horowitz argues this means backwards groups are more likely to initiate violence.
Intragroup conflict (infighting)
Sources
*Task conflict: Task conflict arises when intra-group members disagree on issues that are relevant to meeting shared goals. Effective groups and organizations make use of these conflicts to make plans, foster creativity, solve problems and resolve misunderstandings. However, people who disagree with the group do so at their own peril, even when their position is reasonable.
Dissent
Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
ers often receive a high level of animosity from other group members, are less well-liked, assigned low-status tasks, and are sometimes ostracized.
*Process conflict: Process conflict refers to disagreement over the methods or procedures the group should use in order to complete its tasks. It occurs when strategies, policies, and procedures clash. For example, some group members may suggest discussing conflicting ideas, while other group members prefer to put conflicting ideas to a vote. In essence, during procedural conflicts, group members disagree on ''how'' to disagree. Situations of procedural conflict can be preemptively minimized by adopting formal rules (e.g., bylaws, constitutions, statements of policies) that specify goals, decisional processes, and responsibilities.
*Personal conflict: Personal conflicts, also known as affective conflicts, personality conflicts, emotional conflicts, or relationship conflicts, are conflicts that occur when group members dislike one another. Personal dislikes do not always result in conflict, but people often mention their negative feelings toward another group member when complaining about their groups. Also, there is evidence that a large proportion of group conflicts are indeed personal conflicts. One study of high level corporate executives revealed that 40% of disputes were due to "individual enmity between the principals without specific reference to other issues" (Morrill, 1995, p. 69). Criticism, when one person evaluates another, or his/her work negatively, is one common cause of personal conflict.
Political
Opinion is divided about the merits of infighting in political movements. Whereas "the majority of scholars view infighting as sapping political potency", others argue that "infighting's value lay in its potential to generate strategic possibilities and promote...accountability", and that (at least with respect to
identity politics
Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...
) "infighting is a key site for culture...concretizes cultural conversations".
Among extremists "threatened by the existence of ''anyone'' else, unless that other person's views seem identical to his own", however, infighting and group fissions become the destructive norm: "they're all splitting up so fast...they seem to attack each other more than they attack their real enemies on the other side of the political spectrum".
Small group
Within small groups, the same dichotomy exists. Granted that both constructive and destructive conflict occurs in most small groups, it is very important to accentuate the constructive conflict and minimize the destructive conflict. Conflict is bound to happen, but if used constructively need not be a bad thing.
Using constructive conflict within small groups by bringing up problems and alternative solutions (while still valuing others) allows the group to work forward. While "conflict may involve interpersonal as well as task issues", keeping a window open for dissent can prove very advantageous, as where a company "reaped big benefits because it did not simply try to suppress conflict, but allowed minority influence to prevail".
On the other hand, there is evidence that an organizational culture of disrespect unproductively "generates a morass of
status
Status (Latin plural: ''statūs''), is a state, condition, or situation, and may refer to:
* Status (law)
** City status
** Legal status, in law
** Political status, in international law
** Small entity status, in patent law
** Status conference ...
games and infighting...'it's made people turn against each other'" - so that for example "
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
becomes a chronic accompaniment to broader patterns of infighting".
Individual-Group Conflict
Individual-Group conflict occurs between an individual in the group and the group as a whole. This conflict can occur quite easily. Problems can arise if the individual’s needs or goals differ from the groups.
[Aamodt, M. G. (2016) ''Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach.'' Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 489.] A common problem between an individual and their group is levels of commitment. An individual can feel different levels of commitment and transition into different roles within the group. There are then five stages the individual can go through in their membership: “investigation, socialization, maintenance, resocialization, and remembrance”. Along with these stages, there are also different types of transition the individual can go through: “entry, acceptance, divergence, and exit”. These stages and transitions can affect the individual’s personal values and commitment levels.
Group-Group Conflict
Group-Group conflict occurs between two or more different groups. This conflict commonly happens when the two groups are fighting and working towards the same goal. This can create contact and tension between the groups.
Groups may be drawn into conflict with each other on the basis of performance, importance to particular groups and, in general, union – management rivalries. Although there may be conflict between groups, their members may still come into contact with one another. Contact between the intergroup can promote forgiveness and sometimes result in a reconciliation between groups. This contact between groups can also help group members form new opinions about the other, reduce prejudice, and promote acceptance. An example of group-group conflict would be if two coffee shops in one town are fighting to bring in more customers than the other. Another factor that could cause problems between groups is geographic location. Conflict tends to have negative consequences for both the individual and the organization. There are numerous negative effects of group-group conflict. For example, individuals in the group tend to have an increased lack of interest in work, higher job dissatisfaction, and more work anxiety
Perspectives
Psychoanalysis
Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and ...
saw the roots of intra-group aggression in a regression to the "
narcissistic
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
moment in the subject", highlighting "the aggressivity involved in the effects of all regression, all arrested development, all rejection of typical development in the subject".
Neville Symington
Neville Symington (3 July 1937 - 3 December 2019) was a member of the Middle Group of British Psychoanalysts which argues that the primary motivation of the child is object-seeking rather than drive gratification. He published a number of books ...
also saw narcissism as a key element in group conflict, singling out "organizations so riven by narcissistic currents that...little creative work was done". Such settings provide an opening for "many
egoistic
Egoism is a philosophy concerned with the role of the self, or , as the motivation and goal of one's own action. Different theories of egoism encompass a range of disparate ideas and can generally be categorized into descriptive or normativ ...
instinct-feelings - as the desire to dominate and
humiliate
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It is an emotion felt by a person whose social status, either by force or willingly, has just decr ...
your fellow, the love of conflict - your courage and power against mine - the satisfaction of being the object of
jealousy
Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.
Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness or disgust. ...
, the pleasures derived from the exercise of cunning, deceit and concealment"
Fischer(2012) distinguished between two forms of intragroup conflict in organizations. In a "restorative" form,
paranoid-schizoid "splitting" can be transformed through
scapegoating
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., ...
dynamics to produce reparative ("
depressive") intragroup relations. In a contrasting "perverse" form, intragroup trauma causes paranoid-schizoid functioning to fragment, resulting in an intersubjective "entanglement" with
sadomasochistic
Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...
dynamics.
Nevertheless, psychoanalysts have not been able to evade the constraints of group conflict themselves: "Envy, rivalry, power conflicts, the formation of small groups, resulting in discord and intrigue, are a matter of course" in the
psychoanalytic
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...
world, for example, with institutions being "caught up in the factionalism of the ...struggle between the ins and the outs".
Girard
René Girard
René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the aut ...
saw "collective violence as sacred...
sthe ''great remedy'' for communal life". He saw the violence directed at the group
scapegoat
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...
as "absorbing all the internal tensions, feuds, and rivalries pent up within the community...a deliberate act of collective substitution".
His view parallels the Freudian approach, rooted in ''
Totem and Taboo
''Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'', or ''Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'', (german: Totem und Tabu: Einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenl ...
'', which considers that "transgression... is at the origin of a higher complexity, something to which the realm of civilization owes its development". Freud saw violence as standing at the root of the social bond "what prevails is no longer the violence of an individual but that of a community" and thus "politics made out of delinquency...the social contract establishes corporate virtue as an asylum for individual sin".
Girard concluded therefore that regression and 'the dissolution of differences encourages the proliferation of the
double bind
A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more reciprocally conflicting messages. In some scenarios (e.g. within families or romantic relationships) this can be emotionally distressing, creating ...
...spells the disintegration of social institutions', to reveal the group conflict latent at their core.
Literary examples
*
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (; 86 – ), was a Roman historian and politician from an Italian plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became during the 50s BC a partisan o ...
considered that the civil feuds which brought down the Roman Republic "had set in when the destruction of Rome's mighty enemy Carthage left her without an incentive to self-discipline".
*
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
had Henry IV urge his son, 'Be it thy course to busy giddy minds/With foreign quarrels'
*
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
's view of the divided Tory party at the end of Queen Anne's reign was that "a ship's crew quarrelling in a storm, or while their enemies are within gunshot, is but a faint idea of this infatuation".
[G. M. Trevelyan, ''The Peace and the Protestant Succession'' (1965) p. 306]
See also
*
Divide and rule
Divide and rule policy ( la, divide et impera), or divide and conquer, in politics and sociology is gaining and maintaining power divisively. Historically, this strategy was used in many different ways by empires seeking to expand their terr ...
*
Group narcissism
In social psychology, collective narcissism (or group narcissism) is the tendency to exaggerate the positive image and importance of a group to which one belongs. The group may be defined by ideology, race, political beliefs/stance, religion, sexu ...
*
Narcissism of small differences
In psychoanalysis, the narcissism of small differences (german: der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen) is the idea that the more a relationship or community shares commonalities, the more likely the people in it are to engage in interpersonal feud ...
*
Organizational conflict
Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms in organizations. There is the inevita ...
*
Political faction
A political faction is a group of individuals that share a common political purpose but differs in some respect to the rest of the entity. A faction within a group or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, "parties within a party," ...
*
Scapegoat theory of intergroup conflict
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out a person or group for unmerited blame and consequent negative treatment. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "he did it, not me!"), individuals against groups (e.g., ...
*
Sectarianism
Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...
*
Social undermining
Social undermining is the expression of negative emotions directed towards a particular person or negative evaluations of the person as a way to prevent the person from achieving their goals.
This behavior can often be attributed to certain feel ...
*
Team effectiveness
Team effectiveness (also referred to as group effectiveness) is the capacity a team has to accomplish the goals or objectives administered by an authorized personnel or the organization. A team is a collection of individuals who are interdependen ...
*
Socionics
Socionics, in psychology and sociology, is a pseudoscientific theory of information processing and personality types. It incorporates Carl Jung's work on '' Psychological Types'' with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism. Socio ...
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Further reading
* Ellis, Donald C. ''Transforming Conflict'' (2006)
*
Ardrey, Robert. ''
The Territorial Imperative
''The Territorial Imperative: A Personal Inquiry Into the Animal Origins of Property and Nations'' is a 1966 nonfiction book by American writer Robert Ardrey. It describes the evolutionarily determined instinct among humans toward territoriality ...
'' (1967)
*
Bales, R. F., ''et al.''. ''
SYMLOG: A System for the Multiple Level Observation of Groups'' (1979)
* Adams, Simon. "Faction, Clientage, and Party" ''History Today'' Vol 32 (1982)33–39
Group processes
Interpersonal conflict