Intergroup Relations & Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
• "Any perception, cognition or behaviour that is influenced by people's recognition that
they and others are members of distinct social groups is intergroup behaviour" - (Hogg &
Vaughan, 2014)
Relative Deprivation
• A sense of having less than we feel entitled to
• Percieved gap between expectations or entitlements and attainments
• Deprivation is not absolute but relative to other conditions
• Crucial precondition for intergroup aggression (Walker & Smith, 2002)
Relative deprivation & social unrest
• Berkowitz (1962) - intergroup prejudice and discriminatory behaviour function of:
o Aversive events
o Aggressive associations (e.g. situational cues, past associations)
Collective Violence
1. Relative deprivation
2. Frustration
3. Aversive environmental conditions – amplifies frustration
4. Individual acts of aggression
5. Individual acts of aggression exacerbated by aggressive stimuli
6. Aggression becomes more widespread and assumes role of dominant response
7. Aggression spreads rapidly through social facilitation process
8. Collective violence
Types of relative deprivation
• Runciman (1966) made distinction between:
o Egoistic relative deprivation:
▪ Feeling of having less than we feel we are entitled to
▪ Relative to our personal aspirations or to other individuals
o Fraternalistic relative deprivation:
▪ Sense that our group has less than it is entitled to
▪ Relative to the collective aspirations or other groups
• Associated with social unrest
Realistic Conflict Theory - (Sherif, 1966)
• Sherif (1966): where groups compete over scarce resources, intergroup relations
become marked by conflict & ethnocentrism arises
• Ethnocentrism:
o "View of things in which one's own group is at the centre of everything, and
all others are scaled and rated with reference to it..." - (Summer, 1906)
Intergroup behaviour
• "Any perception, cognition or behaviour that is influenced by people's recognition that
they and others are members of distinct social groups is intergroup behaviour" - (Hogg &
Vaughan, 2014)
Relative Deprivation
• A sense of having less than we feel entitled to
• Percieved gap between expectations or entitlements and attainments
• Deprivation is not absolute but relative to other conditions
• Crucial precondition for intergroup aggression (Walker & Smith, 2002)
Relative deprivation & social unrest
• Berkowitz (1962) - intergroup prejudice and discriminatory behaviour function of:
o Aversive events
o Aggressive associations (e.g. situational cues, past associations)
Collective Violence
1. Relative deprivation
2. Frustration
3. Aversive environmental conditions – amplifies frustration
4. Individual acts of aggression
5. Individual acts of aggression exacerbated by aggressive stimuli
6. Aggression becomes more widespread and assumes role of dominant response
7. Aggression spreads rapidly through social facilitation process
8. Collective violence
Types of relative deprivation
• Runciman (1966) made distinction between:
o Egoistic relative deprivation:
▪ Feeling of having less than we feel we are entitled to
▪ Relative to our personal aspirations or to other individuals
o Fraternalistic relative deprivation:
▪ Sense that our group has less than it is entitled to
▪ Relative to the collective aspirations or other groups
• Associated with social unrest
Realistic Conflict Theory - (Sherif, 1966)
• Sherif (1966): where groups compete over scarce resources, intergroup relations
become marked by conflict & ethnocentrism arises
• Ethnocentrism:
o "View of things in which one's own group is at the centre of everything, and
all others are scaled and rated with reference to it..." - (Summer, 1906)
