Social Conflict, Harmony, and Integration

Abstract

This chapter examines psychological perspectives on intergroup relations, their implications for reducing bias and conflict, and their potential applications for enhancing social integration. Psychological research on social conflict, harmony, and integration has adopted one of two general perspectives. One perspective places an emphasis on functional relations between groups, typically pointing to competition and consequent perceived threat as a fundamental cause of intergroup prejudice and conflict (e.g., realistic group conflict theory). Another approach focuses on the roles of social categorization and collective identity, indicating that whereas different group identities tend to promote conflict, a common ingroup identity promotes harmony (e.g., social identity theory). Although functional and social categorization theories propose different psychological mechanisms, these approaches offer complementary rather than necessarily competing perspectives. For example, within the context of the Contact Hypothesis, appropriately structured intergroup contact can reduce bias and conflict by creating cooperative relations between groups while producing more individuated and personalized perceptions of others (decategorization) or creating a shared sense of identity (recategorization). Pragmatically, understanding the nature of bias and the processes that underlie it can suggest ways that these forces can be harnessed and redirected to promote social harmony.

Attributions of responsibility and punishment for ingroup and outgroup members: The role of just world beliefs

“…Brewer (1979Brewer ( , 2007 has proposed that positive responses to the ingroup and negative responses to outgroups are separable and that, in the absence of competition or conflict (Dovidio, Gaertner, Mayville, & Perry, 2013), relations with ingroup members are of primary importance. This perspective suggests that the effects of just world beliefs, particularly in terms of responses to outgroup members, may be critically determined by the nature of intergroup relations.…”

Social Capital and Ethno-racial Diversity: Learning to Trust in an Immigrant Society

“…

repeated personalized contacts with a variety of outgroup members should, over time, undermine the value and meaningfulness of the social category stereotype as a source of information about members of that group. This is the process by which contact experiences are expected to generalize – via reducing the salience and meaning of social categorization in the long run (Dovidio et al ., 2003, p. 493).

…”

Social Integration and Caste in India: An Analytical Study

“…But many scholars observed that inter-caste marriages promote honor killing and crimes against the Dalit community and lower castes if the caste amalgamation occurs by violating the social norms (Tamalapakula, 2019;Gupta, 2014, Goli, Singh, &Sekher, 2013Srinivasan, 2016). These situations promote disharmony and discontent in the Indian society which is strictly associated with the Caste phenomenon (Dovidio et al, 2013;Parish, 2016;Wilkerson, 2020;Sundiata, 2021).…”