Interest-group membership functions as much to exclude outsiders as to unite insiders

Evidence

A group or association has two aspects: it defines some people in, and it defines some people out. People joined their group not only for mutual help, and the strength of numbers but also as ways to exclude, to define an enemy, to make common cause against outsiders. Organization was a law of life, first, because life was complicated, second, because life seemed to be a competitive struggle, naked jungle warfare over limited resources, a game in which if railroads won, farmers lost, or if labor won, the bosses lost, and vice versa. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1992

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to social-capital theory (Coleman) in the reader’s knowledge base where groups define closure and exclusion, and to later immigration-restriction material in ch. 46-era. — connects to: Group-membership arbitrators tend to be blind to outsiders’ interests — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 4858; Group memberships satisfy conflicting needs for inclusion and distinctiveness — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 830; Most ingroup bias is overvaluation of one’s own group, not active dislike of outsiders (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Group memberships satisfy conflicting needs for inclusion and distinctiveness #corroborates (0.92) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 830
• Most ingroup bias is overvaluation of one’s own group, not active dislike of outsiders #complicates (0.78)