ABSTRACT
T he capacity of groups for intolerance is well known (Hewstone, Rubin, &Willis, 2002). Traitors are rarely tolerated for long, and vengeance isoften brutal. For example, members of criminal organizations such as the mafia have been known to torture and kill ingroup members that violate accepted codes of conduct. Historically, western societies have also been known to marginalize and exclude certain people from partaking in the benefits of being members of the society. Homosexual or homeless people have historically
been marginalized or socially excluded on the basis of their “deviant” social status. However, this capacity for groups to dehumanize and demonize their members (see Leyens et al., 2001) is only part of the story. In other ways, groups are, and have to be, open to new ideas, new directions, and even the inclusion of outsiders. These qualities permit groups to survive, adapt, and grow (see Caporael & Brewer, 2000; Kurzban & Leary, 2001; Moscovici, Mugny, & van Avermaet, 1985). The ideas presented in this chapter derive from a program of research exploring the subjective group dynamics model (Abrams, Marques, Randsley de Moura, Hutchison, & Bown (2004); Marques & Páez, 1994; Marques, Páez, & Abrams, 1998). We propose that social inclusion or exclusion of individuals within groups is substantially affected by intergroup context and may not depend so much on the objective magnitude or nature of their differences from others within their group. Thus, social inclusion and exclusion are often phenomena that need to be understood in terms of intergroup relations rather than interpersonal relationships or personal characteristics of individuals. This chapter describes some key aspects of the model, and introduces several areas to which it can be applied.
