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Scientific Study of Non-Violence
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less and less as the contact lessens. A minor offence, overlooked in a member of our own group, seems intolerable when committed by a member of an out-group.
Cultural variation of many sort-differences in language, food customs, social habits, and so forth-which seem unimportant at first glance can and do lead to prejudice. So deeply rooted is our cultural heritage that we are rarely conscious of it.
By an individual nation, all other nations are generally believed to be morally ‘far away,' or 'much inferior;' they are considered suitable objects on which to exercise national pride (“there is no better country than ours'), national hate ('our enemy is always the same')--all aspects of national egocenterism and egotism. This creates a very favourable atmosphere for developing emotionally charged and standardized symbols and myths which seriously distort the real face and character of other peoples and nations.
Even in such a situation of out-group prejudice, there are some factors that must exist before there can be inter-group conflict. These are: (1) people are categorized together as a unit and collectively regarded as a frustrating agent; (2) the group is visible; i.e., there is awareness of it and a perception of it as being 'different,' and (3) there is some frustrating contact with the group. The rapid influx of a group into an area is particularly likely to breed antagonism towards the group if (a) it is visibly different, and (b) the older residents of the area are in real or imagined competition with the new group, resulting in the group being seen as a frustrator.
National Prejudice: Upto the nineteenth century, it was believed that the division of the world into independent sovereign states, distinguished from one other on the basis of nationality, was both natural and desirable. It was considered that peace could not be secured nor the human personality allowed to reach its full height unless such a division was carried through to completion.
With the passage of time, nationalism all over the world has become more aggressive. Priority of the state in matters moral, economic and territorial over the other states is considered
1Telberg (1956) They Don't Do it Our Way, UNESCO Courier, III. May, 1, p. 6-7.
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