Modeling Intergroup Conflict As Strategic Interactions

Conflicts between groups are among the central research problems in the social sciences. Several theoretical models have been proposed previously to understand and explain their causes, emergence, and dynamics. None of these models, however, captured the unintended nature of these conflicts as a result of individual actions and the structural embeddedness of actions at the same time. This study proposes such a framework as it integrates two-level models of intergroup relations known as team games and models of dyadic social control mechanisms. The proposed model demonstrates why and under what structural conditions can intergroup conflicts be considered as social dilemmas. Model predictions can be derived about the relation between certain properties of the social network and likelihood of intergroup conflict. In particular, the model provides an explanation why intergroup conflicts are often promoted by segregation and also describes some conditions under which the segregation effect becomes weaker.