Symmetric violence war zones retain intergroup friendship and helping acts.

Evidence

Indeed, ethnographic studies conducted in places affected by symmetric violence in Bosnia showed not only that people were aware of out-group members’ suffering but also that they sometimes supported, helped, or even saved each other (Broz 2005; Macˇek 2009). Biro et al. (2004) showed that across three ethnically mixed, war-torn municipalities in Croatia and Bosnia, people maintained their prewar friendships with members of opposing national groups, and these people showed the greatest readiness for reconciliation. — Sandra Penic, Guy Elcheroth, and Dario Spini, When Is Collective Exposure to War…, 153

Categorization

• CANDY: The fact that people saved each other across enemy lines amid the Bosnian war is a striking, accessible point.
• XREF: connects to: Intense intergroup conflict overrides interpersonal friendships between opponents — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2677; Strong community ties inherently enable exclusion and intergroup violence.; Intragroup solidarity and intergroup hostility mutually reinforce each other — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 136 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Intense intergroup conflict overrides interpersonal friendships between opponents #contradicts (0.96) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2677
• The same war produced victims on both sides who now share a neighborhood #exemplifies (0.86) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 204
• Intragroup solidarity and intergroup hostility mutually reinforce each other #complicates (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 136
• Social harmony and redressing historical injustice can coexist through equal-power intergroup contact. #corroborates (0.80) — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations, 111
• Strong community ties inherently enable exclusion and intergroup violence. #complicates (0.78)
• Intragroup trust can enable intergroup brutality #complicates (0.76)
• Experiencing symmetric intergroup violence predicts greater acceptance of one’s group’s collective guilt. #expands (0.74) — Sandra Penic, Guy Elcheroth, and Dario Spini, When Is Collective Exposure to War…, 37
• Protracted conflicts resist intergroup attitude interventions #complicates (0.73)