Building New Pathways to Peace

6. Impediments to Human Security: Social Categories, Privilege, and Violence

97 6 Impediments to Human Security Social Categories, Privilege, and Violence martha cottam E fforts to promote peace, security, and kyosei will occur in unavoidable psychological contexts that pose serious obstacles to achieving success. Research in political and cognitive psychology has identified three major factors that affect the way individuals perceive the need and the justification for social change and for finding new pathways to peace: group dynamics, the acceptance of violence, and the lure of social privilege. Unless these factors are taken into account, reform efforts will be stymied or sidetracked into insignificance and failure. A central factor in the realization of peace, security, and kyosei is that people need to feel that they live in a safe and predictable environment . Perceptions and experiences of human security are limited by three impediments: social categorization, the closely related issue of social privilege, and the experience of chronic violence and the attraction violence holds for some. The human propensity to categorize the self and others into social groups creates an automatic tendency to discriminate, at least in the form of in-group favoritism. This process of social categorization is motivated not by any particular bias but by the simple fact that people cannot process all the information available to them in their social environment without using social categories as filters. People rapidly accept information that conforms to their category-based expectations . This information-processing technique easily leads to social ste- 98 martha cottam reotypes, discrimination, and prejudices, all of which make security and kyosei difficult to achieve. Added to this factor is the inclination to use group comparisons to bolster self-image. People compare their groups to other relevant groups and seek a positive comparison. A negative comparison could lead to violence. This process is particularly important in multiethnic, multisectarian , multiracial, and multinational societies. Arguably, these societies will never be able to achieve the degree of kyosei that is possible in more homogeneous societies. Ethnic, religious, national, and racial identities can be very strong and resistant to demonstrations of tolerance for others. When these are associated with negative stereotypes of the out-group, living together is not desired and may be dangerous. A second impediment lies in social hierarchies and privilege. People who have privilege seldom recognize the depth of that privilege. Challenging the privileged is a daunting task when privileged people cannot see how powerful they are. Power not only governs who makes decisions but also sets forth unrecognized assumptions about who decides what is important in a society and what norms that society should follow. Those without privilege will adapt or lose out; these individuals or groups must be empowered in order to challenge the status quo. A third impediment is the experience of, attraction to, and acceptance of violence. War and violence—whether interstate or intercommunal violence, or violence between street gangs—is often so chronic that it is not especially noted and may become glorified, thrilling, and addictive. Moreover, people easily become accustomed to violence, ranging from verbal abuse and violent video games and movies to physical violence and other forms of violent interaction. American culture provides multiple examples in everyday life. It may be that some societies are less inclined to embrace violence, and if so, perhaps the United States can learn from them. Each of these factors is discussed in greater depth below. Social Categories, Stereotypes, and Group Competition We classify both ourselves and others into groups. Groups we belong to are called “in-groups”; those we do not belong to are called “outgroups .” Social identity studies assert four central propositions.1 First, people strive to maintain positive self-images—that is, people want to Impediments to Human Security 99 see themselves in a positive light when they are comparing themselves to others. Second, membership in groups contributes to a person’s identity and self-image. Belonging to groups is important because people are social animals. We need groups for survival, security, and companionship . Third, people evaluate their own groups by making comparisons with other groups. Finally, positive individual social identity is contingent upon a positive comparison of one’s own group with other groups. The link between the self and the in-group is quite complex. While a person derives a positive self-image from group membership, he or she also uses positive information about the self to form positive expectancies for the group that person belongs to. People also compare their...