Shared Trajectory

Human societies depend simultaneously on difference and coordination. Identities, institutions, professions, nations, disciplines, cultures, technologies, and communities preserve distinct forms of knowledge, perspective, specialization, memory, and practice. Social identity can organize belonging and collective action, but it can also make intergroup comparison and status competition salient (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Diversity can widen the range of perspectives and institutional options available to a society, yet it can become a source of dysfunction when meaningful distinctions are transformed into antagonistic boundaries.