Mere arbitrary categorization creates fault lines blocking intergroup cooperation

Evidence

Even the mere categorization of individuals into arbitrary and transient social groupings is sometimes sufficient to create “relational fault lines” that impede the development and stability of cooperative intergroup relations (Brewer, 1979; Kramer & Brewer, 1984; Tajfel, 1970). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1974

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates the reader’s minimalist-categorization thread from minimal group experiments — that even contentless labels trigger differentiation. — connects to: Addressing top-bottom resource inequality can dissolve identity-based intergroup competition. — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 139
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1974