Conflict and cooperation

Abstract

Margaret Thatcher had a habit of enquiring, concerning any individual whose name cropped up, ‘.Is he/she one of us?’ Any group to which an individual belongs can be referred to as an in-group; a group to which an individual does not belong is an out-group. In-groups and out-groups are defined entirely in terms of the individual’s membership. Margaret Thatcher’s ‘one of us’ referred to the in-group to which she belonged, a group of people who shared her political analysis and attitudes. All the rest constituted an out-group. This again can be explained by social cognition. Experiences have been transformed into mental representations which in turn play a part in determining behaviour. Margaret Thatcher’s experience of the miners’ union coming close to unseating a Conservative government in 1984/5 were transformed into representations of the miners as subversive and hostile which in turn coloured her behaviour in relation to them.