Prejudice & Resources

[grandpa]

According to Arie Nadler, prejudice may be "a social phenomenon associated with real conflict over
scarce resources. This is a relatively optimistic conception because it
contains a relatively simple way to eliminate prejudice: abolish conflict and
competition over scarce resources between groups, and you do away with
prejudice."

Stephen Roth Institute: Antisemitism and Racism

Do you think this is a gross oversimplification? If so, by how much?

Grandpa h.

[Technosoul]

In some respects that is true, animals always fight over food, like dogs over a bone.

My cats must compete for food and they might hiss at one another, but once they all fill up then they might lay down in one pile and sleep with one another. A kind of hate-love relationship.

For survival reasons crows might be prejudice towards other crows if they are weaker then the those who are well equiped to survive.

In humans, a lack of education is the weakness that we might see, and for which reason we push people away form our company. No one likes someone who is down-and-out. A "hug the homeless" day would never become popular.

Prejudice is "pre judgement without a just reason".

However many people are prejudice towards Mexicans because they are percieved as coming here and taking away our jobs, when we might have few jobs to go around, and jobs = money = food ( and other consumer items). That would be the best example for that theory.

[Morality Games]

Thought the article sounded psychoanalytical in style.

This view links prejudice to a deeply-held psychological motivation that we all share. Social identity theorists tell us that as social beings, a major part of our sense of self is social, and assume that we are all motivated to maintain a positive sense of self-esteem. One way of doing this is by favoring our own groups and disparaging others: if my group is better than yours, it means that I am better. It has nothing to do with real or imagined conflict. Prejudice, and devaluing members of the other group, occur because of the fact that they belong to the other group. This, of course, is a much more pessimistic view of prejudice. It tells us that prejudice is an existential condition. We devalue others and praise our kin because we are social animals.

I'm afraid both views highlight psychological states which lead to prejudice, but I would place special emphasis on this one.

However, both feed each other -- a scarcity of resources would motivate people who before were able to maintain a positive self-esteem without degrading a different group to reverse this friendly behavior, and people who evaluate themselves to be worth more than people of a different group would be likelier to fret over resources distribution between their group and the other.

However, even if the condition is pessimistic, we can optimstically approach it. Just realign the focus of your activity to not degrade other groups (in so far as is possible).

[grandpa]

Quote by: Technosoul In some respects that is true, animals always fight over food, like dogs over a bone. My cats must compete for food and they might hiss at one another, but once they all fill up then they might lay down in one pile and sleep with one another.

There are many, many more variables with humans, though. Cats seem to have less capacity to say, "Look, we have this resource and we are all going to need it! Why not work something out?" In contrast to the fiercest animals, we could develop forums of free speech and public opinion where general issues can be discussed.
That being said, animals don't stab each other in the backs and battle quite like humans do:

Across Iraq, battles erupt with Mahdi Army | csmonitor.com Baghdad - The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone. Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights erupted around Baghdad pitting government and US forces against the militia allied to the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Grandpa h.

[Chancellor]

It sounds like the author is trying to come up with a valid excuse for prejudice.

[grandpa]

Quote by: Chancellor It sounds like the author is trying to come up with a valid excuse for prejudice.

That's not the impression I got. I interpreted it as an attempt to understand why it is so common.

It is a complicated matter, like battling with shifting fog.

Grandpa h.