Running Head TAJFEL AND TURNER'S THEORY

Billig evaluation of Tajfel and Turner's theorising of intergroup conflict

Billig evaluation of Tajfel and Turner's theorising of intergroup conflict

Introduction

Tajfel suggests that we tend to structure our social environment cial in terms of groups of people or "social categories" to simplify the world in which we live. These categories are based on our own experiences, but are also determined by society. The knowledge of our membership in these social categories is defined as our social identity, and forms an important part of our self- concept. To enhance our social identity tend to behave so that our group purchased a "positive distinctiveness" in comparison to other groups. If this is not possible we seek to change our "belonging group, "and if the latter is not possible we can try a re-defination of the existing social situation through collective action, thus achieving a "positive social identity."

As a theory of intergroup relations, the theory of social identity differs from other previous theoretical approaches. In particular, it addresses a concern expressed by dividing the approaches "individualistic" relationships - often conflict - between groups. These approaches - also very different - had in common an attempt to explain the relationship between social groups by focusing on individual psychological processes. For example, the authoritarian personality theory of Adorno et al., Inspired by psychoanalysis, is the cause of anti-Semitism in a particular configuration of personality manifested by a tendency to ethnocentrism: positive attitudes towards the ingroup, negative attitudes towards outgroups; belief that outgroups are lower. The authoritarian personality structure would be formed as a result of the repression during the early childhood; aggressive tendencies towards the parents are too strict and will update the projection of these trends for minority groups. The theory of the scapegoat is also based on a dynamic of frustration-aggression.

The theory of social identity also differs from the primary group relations theory to adopt a perspective really 'intergroup', namely the theory of real conflicts of Sheriff (1966). According to this theory, relations between groups can be either competitive or cooperative. When groups are in competition for scarce and valued resources, be they tangible (material possessions or territories) or abstract (power, symbolic goods), conflicts emerge. By cons, in situations where obtaining scarce resources requires the continued and valued by members of both groups a common goal - or superordinate goal - the cooperation between groups leads to harmonious relations. It would therefore, be the objective characteristics of the situation, determining the nature of relations between social groups - competition or cooperation - would result in the appearance of prejudice and bias proendogroupes (Tajfel, 1966, p77).

Discussion

According to Tajfel and Turner (1986), the theory of real conflicts, although it represented a significant advance compared to individualistic theories, did not pay enough attention or processes that underlie the development and maintenance of the group identity, or to potentially independent aspects that 'subjective' of group membership can have on the behavior of intra-group and inter-group. The theory of social identity is as ...