realistic conflict theory

• Explains prejudice as arising from conflict between groups which may be cause by a conflict of interests or competition for resources, land, and dominance.
• Intergroup competition: arises when two groups, the ingroup and outgroup, need to compete against one another. When two or more groups are striving for the same goal, there’s an increase in hostility.
• Negative interdependence: occurs when two groups are both seeking for a common goal, which is the limited resource, but only one of them can achieve it. “negative” comes from the fact that each group will act to obstruct the other groups achievement and “interdependence” is when one groups win is contingent on the other groups loss. Interactions with people of the other group increase outgroup hostility.
• However, the theory does suggest that there’s a way to reduce prejudice by introducing a superordinate goal, a common goal that requires both groups to work together to achieve. But positive interdependence is needed where neither group can accomplish the goal unless the other group reaches it too.
• One strength of this study is that it has supporting evidence to show that prejudice arises from intergroup competition but introducing a superordinate goal does reduce it. Sheriffs’ robbers cave experiment showed how the boys started name calling and saying slurs when presented with orchestrated aggravating situations where they needed to compete for goals suggesting that competition increased prejudice. However, it was reduced when both groups had to work together to fix the broken-down bus and have a camp over where they’d need to find food together.
• This is a strength as it shows that competition does lead to intergroup hostility but by introducing a superordinate goal where positive interdependence is necessary will reduce prejudice and discrimination which can then be used in society to limit violence within schools too.
• A weakness is that competition is not always needed for prejudice to occur but doesn’t account for the prejudice cause without any competition. Tajfel’s minimal group study showed the boys would choose max difference instead of trying to gain the most points for themselves, they would discriminate and award less points to boys based not on competition but on self-worth.
• This is a weakness as the theory isn’t valid in saying that competition is the only thing that leads to prejudice when self-esteem and social identification also play a part in prejudice behaviours, which can be better explained by the social identity theory.