Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
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Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#2Title changed to a bit of the first paragraph that appears more informative.
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#3This reminds me of the German-produced movie 'Die Welle', or 'The Wave'.[0] It demonstrates the creation and execution of some of these dynamics and how individuals may be susceptible to strong leaders even though their ideals and morals differ. It can be found on Netflix and I recommend it to anyone who found the article interesting.
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#4This is why "divide and conquer" is such an effective, commonplace strategy for an aspiring powermonger. Take two groups that are different but not in a remarked upon fashion. Invent a reason for the side that is not you to be a "them." Then organize your own side as an "us" combating the perceived injustice. Now you have an instant follower group at your command, ready to saddle up and commit heinous crimes for you. Explains all sorts of conflicts - ethnic, religious, ideological, nationalistic...
Now every time I see people who organize an "us", I start looking for the "them" to appear. And then I write off the leader as someone up to no good.
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#5This reminds me of the German-produced movie 'Die Welle', or 'The Wave'.[0] It demonstrates the creation and execution of some of these dynamics and how individuals may be susceptible to strong leaders even though their ideals and morals differ. It can be found on Netflix and I recommend it to anyone who found the article interesting. [0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/
I second the film recommendation. It's a very well made, and very heavy film. In addition, to anyone hearing about it for the first time, it's based on the real life social experiment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#6This is why "divide and conquer" is such an effective, commonplace strategy for an aspiring powermonger. Take two groups that are different but not in a remarked upon fashion. Invent a reason for the side that is not you to be a "them." Then organize your own side as an "us" combating the perceived injustice. Now you have an instant follower group at your command, ready to saddle up and commit heinous crimes for you.…
No, they are the only people like that. They are the real bad guys here. You must just be a closet one of them! You know we can't trust anyone on their side. Ever!
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#7This is why I like to consider myself to belong to the group of humans and dislike further specialization based on gender, where you're born, etc.
We're on the same team.
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#8Some related concepts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_favoritism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_conflict
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-group_homogeneity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_ingroup_identity
And a couple of interesting experiments:
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#9This is why "divide and conquer" is such an effective, commonplace strategy for an aspiring powermonger. Take two groups that are different but not in a remarked upon fashion. Invent a reason for the side that is not you to be a "them." Then organize your own side as an "us" combating the perceived injustice. Now you have an instant follower group at your command, ready to saddle up and commit heinous crimes for you.…
Don't forget that you can play both sides against the middle either. Identity politics is a common diversion for a reason.
Re: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group
#10This reminds me of the German-produced movie 'Die Welle', or 'The Wave'.[0] It demonstrates the creation and execution of some of these dynamics and how individuals may be susceptible to strong leaders even though their ideals and morals differ. It can be found on Netflix and I recommend it to anyone who found the article interesting. [0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/
I second the film recommendation. It's a very well made, and very heavy film. In addition, to anyone hearing about it for the first time, it's based on the real life social experiment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave
Which was made into a 40 minute film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICng-KRxXJ8 called the wave