ABSTRACT
United States citizens should not need to be told that, despite their collective wealth, they have their own alienated and resentful poor and their own dis guring slums. All of the poor countries also have their upwardly mobile middle and professional classes, in far greater numbers and proportions than ever in the past. Poverty is not the only root of violence, but it gives a sharp edge to the con- icts that seem, unfortunately, to be a permanent part of the human experience. When one has little material security, one is more likely to feel threatened by competition. Racial, religious, political, or class identities and di erences become accentuated. Group identity and membership not only give individuals a degree of security and identity but also tend to emphasize we-they distinctions. All too o en such divisions lead to intergroup tensions and violence, as in contemporary India.
