The Major Causes Of Inter-Group Conflict Theory

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The problem of inter-group conflict had already been known to have existed for so many years, be it conflicts between different gender, religion, races and ethnicity or a group of people in general. Inter-group conflicts usually occur between two or more groups of people that are not seeing eye to eye with each other due to a certain disagreement or an event. It is a behaviour among individuals that is regulated by their awareness of identifying different social groups (Pearson, 2010). According to Realistic Group Conflict Theory, conflicts are developed due to competition over limited resources and conflicting goals. Although some argued that inter-group conflict occurs naturally, there are also other causes that might spark the conflicts between groups. These causes can be taken from different aspects which is economically, institutionally and culturally. All these causes may also lead to prejudice and often would cause discrimination.

The Realistic Group Conflict Theory further explains that the goals between different groups and its individuals causes conflicts because every group feels that they have the urge to compete with the other group to obtain the goal. Muzafer Sherif conducted an experiment on this which is remarkably …show more content…

For instance, the tragedy that happened to the towers of World Trade Center was believed to be done by the Islamist Militant; Al-Qaeda, since then, a lot of Muslims were abused and discriminated because they were thought to be a terrorist. It proves how a certain event or a harm that is done to people in the past can strongly influence how people see and think of a certain group. This could also lead to the act of violence towards the groups that are stereotyped. Broadly speaking, stereotyping, in this case, is when there is a negative social stigma is attached to a certain group of people based on what the society thinks or believes about