Realistic Group Conflict Theory

Background, History, and Major Research Findings

RGCT was given its name by anthropologist Robert LeVine and psychologist Donald Campbell, who formulated and cross-culturally tested propositions based on existing psychological, sociological, and anthropological research on ethnocentrism and group conflict. In the course of this work, they grouped theories explaining ethnocentrism into several categories (reference group theory, frustration aggressiondisplacement theory, etc.), including one they dubbed realistic group conflict theory. They used this term to refer to “the set of all theories that generate the ethnocentrism syndrome from the competitive struggle of groups with incompatible interests” (LeVine & Campbell, 1972, p. 72).

As indicated above, the core idea in RGCT is that intergroup stereotyping, prejudice, and hostility emerge when groups have conflicting interests, and specifically when one group's success blocks the other's goal attainment. RGCT includes a large number of specific predictions about the way in which clashing interests between groups influence both ingroup functioning and intergroup relations. For example, RGCT predicts that conflict with outgroups enhances ingroup solidarity. It also predicts that the more another group stands in the way of one's own group's attainment of desired goals, the greater the hostility created toward that other group. Some of these propositions have stimulated much more research than others.