Intergroup aggression

Intergroup aggression, carried out at the level of the in-groups and out-groups of ethnocentric theory, has continued unabated throughout the twentieth century. The frequency of aggression together with its ferocity suggests a potent biological cause. Primates have evolved as social animals and it is postulated that evolution has proceeded to such an extent that the in-group is a multi-individual social organism, that is, an organised body consisting of mutually connected and dependent parts constituted to share a common life. The social organism results from the total integration of individuals into the social structure and culture of the in-group; individuals are inseparable from their society. The evidence for this integration comes from sociology (the roles individuals play within the group according to society's rules), from the psychology of culture (where culture is defined as knowledge and beliefs within the group), and from a consideration of the evolution of the mind (the development of the social intelligence module in the brain of primates). Cohesion is brought about by means of the Durkheimian collective consciousness and collective memory of the group. The evolution of multi-individual organisms is analogous to the evolution of multicellular organisms (the Metazoa) by the association of unicellular organisms. All biological organisms require living space; multi-individual organisms require access to territory for food and raw materials and are endowed with the behavioural characteristics that are necessary to maintain that access. This survival instinct ensuring access to territory is a potent biological cause of intergroup aggression. The prime factor in initiating intergroup conflict is the need for each social organism to maintain the integrity, stability, and survival of its own society, based on territory

Aggression · Biology · Collective memory · Consciousness · Ethnocentrism · Evolutionary biology · Group cohesiveness · Group conflict · Instinct · Multicellular organism · Organism · Political science · Social animal · Social evolution · Social group · Sociology · Anthropology · Cultural Differences and Values · Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Psychology · Social Psychology · Ecology · Genetics

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