Dogmatism and Competitive Relationships Between Soccer Teams

Abstract

In the framework of intergroup relationships, Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Real Conflict Theory (RCT) both hypothesize a positive relationship between social identification and ethnocentrism in threatening en-vironments. The RCT proposes that conflict for scarce resources between groups determines ingroup identification while the SIT predicts that intensity of social identification leads to outgroup hostility in threatening contexts. An examination of these relationships is undertaken in a competitive sports context with the help of the dogmatism scale. Relationships between Belief and Activism Toward One Cause, as a social identification measure, and Out-group Authoritarian Intolerance, as an ethnocentrism measure were studied across two experimental conditions (neutral vs. competitive). The results describe a positive effect of Out-group Authoritarian Intolerance, measured in the neutral condition, on Belief and Activism Toward One Cause, measured in the competitive condition, validating RCT. The results are discussed based on complementary individual and collective analyses (i.e., dogmatism and intergroup relationship theories) of ethnocentrism.