Construction Race Essay The Formation Of In-Groups By Gordon Allport

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Construction Race Essay: The Formation of In-Groups by Gordon Allport

Andrews is from a minority African American community in his high school. He often

has challenges in relating to the mainly white students, who seem to be close together and do not

appreciate his presence in games, class work, and group discussion activities. He believes that he

is a victim of racial prejudices and that very few would want to relate with him in school. Efforts

by the teachers to incorporate him into the class activities have not been successful, since his

classmates, most of who are teenagers and have no regard for the prejudices they attach to

Andrew, would hear none of it. Andrew has frequented the guidance and counseling department

and also shared with his parents about his plight, with efforts made to transfer him to the black-

dominated community school where he can feel safe and able to concentrate on his studies. In

this anecdote, the plight of Andrews is manifested based on how he is treated by the majority

who feels that he do not belong to their group (Allport 177). He is desperate to find and in-group

so that he can strike identity and sense of belonging to a given group of individuals with similar

and favorable traits, culture, and mentality.

The Formation of In-Groups by Gordon Allport is ideally an explanation of the plights

that Andrews undergoes in his school, where he feels out of place because of his race. According

to Allport’s The Formation of In-Groups all individuals consider the need to belong to a

particular socio-economic and political group, which defines them and offer identity which is

paramount to the required standards. Allport (181) posited that from birth, people feel the

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unconditional urge to belong to a given group, based on their characteristics in terms of race,

ethnicity, economic and political affiliations, and gender. Just like Andrews in the case, the other

students wanted to protect their territory from the intruders, whose traits, such as race, is not

consistent with the foundations of such a group. In this regard, all the familiar things in people’s

lives matter, even when they may not mean positive traits. For instance, Andrews’s classmates

are all united by their racial characteristics, although they have collective stereotypes that have

negative impacts on his self-esteem, mental and cognitive, and emotional development.

Therefore, this theory is ideal for the understanding of the in-group and out-group dynamics and

how they serve to unite members and result into prejudice against non-members.

Andrews on the other hand feels the pressure of not being a member of the in-group,

which subjects him to racial discrimination and prejudices that even the school administration

may not solve. The impact of not being a member of in-group and the desire to find an identity

where he is accepted are so strong that it underscores the theories that Allport formulated in the

Formation of In-Groups. As Allport puts it, there is always the strong socio-cultural desire to

belong to a given group, based on the shared ideals, physical characteristics and the mental peace

that are accrued in these groups. Being an outsider is considered dangerous and exposes people

to ridicule and unwarranted discrimination, just like it befell Andrews in the anecdote.

Throughout the growth curve, individuals learn to appreciate the security that they have in their

groups, which make them lean more towards their in-groups (Halevy et al. 193). There is safety,

collectivism, and the general essence of identity created in the in-groups, according to Allport’s

theory. In this regard, the perspective that parents take will definitely influence the growth and

development of their children based on the in-groups that they belong.

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One of the ideal concepts from Allport which is important in explaining the anecdote is

on the “group-norm theory of prejudice,” (182) Through this theory it is evident that people who

belong to a given in-group such as those of gender, age, race, sex, economic class, culture, and

family, among others are more worried about their concerns. For instance, the prejudice towards

the out-group often unify the in-group to the extent that they fight to preserve their unifying

factors and protect it from infiltration by the members of out-group. This is the same

predicament that befell Andrews in his school when he was considered an out-group member,

therefore had to be negatively treated because he served as a unifying factor. Allport claimed,

“…there is no denying that the presence of a threatening common enemy will cement the in-

group sense of any organized aggregate of people.” He further observed that a family is more

united during adversities and challenges as well as a nation during terror attack. However, the

central idea behind the galvanization against the out-group is the essence of security and safety.

Therefore, there cannot be an in-group without the out-group, with questions emerging on

the priority of the in-groups in the presence of out-groups. Prejudices and dislikes are often the

galvanizing agents for the in-groups, which subjects members to guard their values and ideals

from the infiltration by others. Therefore, the question that should be considered is the essence of

hostility towards the out-group, especially on why the in-group members often use hatred,

discrimination, and prejudices on other groups. The challenge is on understanding the

complexity of the in-groups, considering that humanity, according to Allport, is the largest in-

group. Therefore, it is possible that in-group concept starts from the personal level, family,

group, class, organization, state, country, and ultimately the whole humanity (Gocłowska et al.,

74). At each level, there are barriers to the out-group through dislikes, discrimination, and often

violence, as was depicted in the Andrews case. Very often, people would want to protect their

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personal spaces, which is an example of personal in-group, based on defined values, ideals, and

tenets that define an individual. This is where the concepts of principles and values come in.

There is the ambiguity, however, in Allport’s The Formation of In-Groups the confusion

over the reference group and the in-group emergences onto the fore. For instance, an Asian

neighbor who lives with his extended family in Miami often envy the culture of the African

Americans, especially their aggression, accent, and the height. He often wear the same dress

code, attend their parties, but still feel completely out of place and may not use certain dialects

when referring to them. This anecdote is meant to underscore the essence of ambiguity between

the in-group and reference group. For instance, in the first case scenario, Andrews wanted to be

feeling part of the white-dominated community school, which never came to be because of the

galvanized values against the out-group members. Even if he wanted to be part of the reference

group, based on their majority status in the school, he would still feel out of place. In this regard,

even the Asian neighbor in Miami can still not completely become a member of the in-group

even through the association, desire, and acceptance by the majority African American neighbors

(Buttelmann and Robert 925). This underscores the power of in-group dynamics, culture, and

ideals, which give the sense of identity. It is therefore important to note that identity cannot be

bought or sold.

Based on the concept of sex as an in-group, it is evident that Allport is spot-on in

exploring the “we” concept of in understanding what united men, irrespective of race, culture,

economic, and political status, to unite against the women as out-group. The same instance is

also applicable to the women as an in-group while men turn into out-group. Therefore, the

ambiguity is on the sustainability of the in-groups. The author has not effectively elaborated the

ideals of what happens when in-groups clash with each other based on shared interest or when

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they override each other. For instance, when an Indian woman is raped by a Hispanic boyfriend,

the clash is likely to be witnessed across such in-groups as women and Indians as a community

or race versus the Hispanics (Halevy et al. 189). When such an incident occurs, Allport has not

effectively elaborated on which one will override the other and what factors result into this

situation. However, there is the essence of humanity being considered as the largest in-group,

which means the values of humanity, as pointed out in The Formation of In-Groups by Gordon

Allport, will carry the day. All other in-groups may fold to achieve the ultimate results of

humanity and ensure that women are secured from the oppression of men, in this case situation.

In most cases, The Formation of In-Groups fails to appreciate the power of consciousness

especially at personal level, which could result into individuals thinking otherwise against

discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudices. This is evident when at personal level, and

individual may disagree with the prejudices that befall the members of the out-group such as

violence and mistreatment against them, which is generally human. Therefore, there is the

question of vagueness which the author has not addressed effectively, especially on which level

of the in-group formation is ideal for the realization of consciousness; personal or humanity. The

author’s allusion to humanity as the largest in-group underscores the need to appreciate the fact

that at all the levels of in-group activities including protection of the values and ideals through

dislikes and prejudices, humanity at times becomes paramount. Bar-Tal, Daniel (44) observed

that this is evident when a country is under the terror attacks, which make the nation to be more

united and leaders across different in-groups condemn the actions of the terrorists. Therefore,

humanity prevails over the activities of such in-groups as Islamic States and their sympathizers,

which make conscience to be ideally important in the long run.

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Allport should have clarified the essence of humanity and why it is the largest in-group

that prevails as well as the ideals of personal instincts, which would make the members of an in-

group to have conflicts related to how they treat the outgo up members. Allport alludes to the in-

group theory of prejudice to underline the powers that individuals collectively wield in their

respective in-groups. It is evidenced from the assertions in the article that all individuals belong

to a give in-group. Or at least aspire to be in one of them for safety and identity (Allport 182).

This is evident when people admire the reference groups and their activities, which calls for the

clear definition of the differences between the two concepts. Whichever dimension which

individuals take, there is always the desire to be part of an in-group, while others are inherent

through the position of the parents, such as racisms and religious in-groups.

Based on the given anecdotes, it is only evident that Alltop’s theory on the dynamics of

in-groups and the emergency of prejudices are ideal in explaining the sense of belonging

amongst different in-group members. The Formation of In-Groups determines the reasons why

the in-group members are so determined to safeguard their values and keep the members of the

out-group at bay. This is mainly because of the security and safety reasons, according to

Allport’s theory. The article is ideally explaining the perspectives through which the individuals

in a given situation will be interested in achieving their own values as opposed to the general

wellbeing of individuals outside the group. In essence, the in-group dynamics are often more

flexible than Allport’s theory makes it to be in several instances. For instance, it is not

uncommon to find that within a racial in-group, there are those who will castigate the actions of

their members against the out-group individuals. At this rate, it is important to underscore that

the individuals’ personal in-group concept overrides the group’s perspective, but the power of

collective values and prejudices overrides them.

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Works Cited

Allport, Gordon. "Formation of in-groups." The Nature of Prejudice (1976): 170-187. Retrieved:

https://acauteneng110.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/3/8/1638917/allport--

the_formation_of_in-groups.pdf

Bar-Tal, Daniel, et al., eds. Stereotyping and prejudice: Changing conceptions. Springer Science

& Business Media, 2013.

Buttelmann, David, and Robert Böhm. "The ontogeny of the motivation that underlies in-group

bias." Psychological Science 25.4 (2014): 921-927.

Halevy, Nir, Ori Weisel, and Gary Bornstein. "“In‐Group Love” and “Out‐Group Hate” in

Repeated Interaction Between Groups." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 25.2

(2012): 188-195.

Gocłowska, Małgorzata A., and Richard J. Crisp. "On counter-stereotypes and creative

cognition: When interventions for reducing prejudice can boost divergent

thinking." Thinking skills and creativity 8 (2013): 72-79.

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