Realistic Conflict Theory Flashcards
The greater the competition for scarce resources…
the greater the hostility between various ethnic groups, e.g KKK was formed when they believed newly freed black slaves were taking all the jobs
Scarce resources include…
jobs, land, houses, income, status, political power and educational opportunities
Conflict arises when…
two groups want to achieve the same goal but cannot both have it, hostility is then produced between them.
The theory assumes that group conflicts are…
rational in the sense that groups have incompatible goals and the source of the conflict is realistic
In a situation of conflict, groups often develop negative stereotypes of each other and use these to
justify discrimination
Prejudice is more likely when there is the potential for the resource to run out which is called
‘zero sum’
When there isn’t a ‘zero sum’ conflict is likely to be
less fierce
Sherif believes that subordinate goals can reduce conflict and prejudice as the groups rely on
interdependence and neither group can attain its goal without working with one another
A strength of this theory is that it helps society to try and reduce prejudice by
using superordinate goals, where groups have to work together in order to achieve resources for all
Sherif et al’s (1961) findings which support the theory have been replicated in other studies such as…
Clore et al (1978) and Slavin and Madden (1979) which used inter racial sports teams. This is a strength as it inceases the credibility and reliability
Fiske (2004) believes that RCT should be called Percieved Group Conflict Theory because it has
had only limited and inconsistent support and the percived, symbolic threat from out groups seems to matter more than any real or tangible threat.
A weakness is Tyerman and Spencer (1983) as they observed English scouts at their annual camp, they knew each other well before and were divided into patrols, they found that
friendships that existed before the experiment were maintained throughout and competition remained frienddly and there was no increase in group solidarity. Saw themselves as 1 big group.
Filndra and Pearson-Merkowitz (2013) found that when a dominant white percieves a threat, there is more p and d. They found tha ta percieved increase in the presence of immigrants did
correlate with tighter immigration policy, but this was only during economic hardship which shows that it was about percieved competition for rescourses
Although, superordinate goals are not always effective at reducing p, Brown (1996) found that it may actually increase the
anatagonism towards the outgroup if the competition fails to achieve its aims, disliking for the outgroup may increase if each group doesn’t have a distincitve role to play
Aroson et al (1978) supports as introducing a learning task into a classroom where students were dependent on each other for info where they
were given an individual score on a test at the end. He found that students had increased self esteem and liking for the outgroup than the control group
