Visible group distinctions make people attach personal needs to group status, fueling competition.

Evidence

In a world of limited resources, conflicts of interest between groups, as well as between individuals, may be inevitable. Allport suggested that in heterogeneous societies in which group distinctions are noticeable, there is a tendency for people to link their individual material and identity needs to the interests of their group. Consequently, when collective social mobility is possible, people are especially attuned to actual or potential changes in the status of their own and other groups. These concerns for group status produce competition between groups for material resources and for value dominance. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1473

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Groups can gain status by persuading society to value their own criteria — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 304; Perceived permeability of group boundaries dictates whether status change is sought individually or collectively. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 84