Paradoxes of Group Life: Understanding Conflict, Paralysis, and Movement in Group Dynamics

Intergroup Influences:The Paradoxes of Scarcity, Perception, and Power

While discussing the literature on internal group processes, we commented on how rarely researchers included conflict as an important topic for consideration. The exact opposite is the case with the literature on relations among groups. Here, frames that highlight conflict dominate the published record. Books are filled with propositions about intergroup conflict: cohesion is strongest when there is an adversarial or hostile group around (Simmel, 1955); ethnocentric dynamics enable groups to feel good about themselves because an “other” can be construed as bad (Levine and ...