On The Difference Between Us and Them as Opposed to Us vs Them

By Timothy L. Fort, PhD, JD, Eveleigh Professor of Business Ethics, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University

The insights in the Nudges and Bridges series aim to help everyone, including business people, understand how they can contribute to peace. The words “us” and “them” typically are used to characterize problematic opposition. This video looks at these issues and also offers ways in which creating an “us” can be a good thing.  Maybe it is terms of finding a common enemy – that seems very true these days – but it also looks at more constructive possibilities of “us and them” while warning of the very real dangers of “us vs them.” 

On The Difference Between Us and Them as Opposed to Us vs Them

The words “us” and “them” typically are used to characterize problematic opposition.  There is a good reason for that.  But we all need an “us.”  If you have an “us,” there is going to be a “them.”  That’s not a bad thing.  But when the meaning of our “us” depends on the demonizing of the “them,” then things are much different.  It is possible, even healthy to have “us” and “them” your head, but in many cases, one can still have very constructive relationships with the “them” in question.  Do you play in an after work softball team?  Your team is an us, but I doubt you really hate the other team.  The members of that team may be other colleagues at work and then, you comprise a different kind of “us.”

This video looks at these issues and also offers ways in which creating an “us” can be a good thing.  Maybe it is terms of finding a common enemy – that seems very true these days – but it also looks at more constructive possibilities of “us and them” while warning of the very real dangers of “us vs them.”

Editor’s Note:

Why might business contribute to peace?
This video podcast series with Tim Fort aims to help us build bridges with others in the pursuit of peace. The insights are applicable to all of us, including businesses. During past discussions held on Business and Peace in the Business Fights Poverty Forum, three main reasons were offered for why businesses might contribute to peace.
The first is that it is simply a morally good thing to do. Business people are, after all, just that: people. Human beings generally do fare better during times of peace and stability and, regardless of what the motivations are, there is a shared desire of businesses, people, and business people to live in an environment of peace and stability.
The second reason pertains to instrumental reasons. Companies will fare better if bombs are not dropping on office buildings and a company’s brand and reputation will likely be better off if associated with peace rather than violence.
Another insight in the discussion was that of timeline. A long term approach to business success might lend itself to an incremental, but strong contribution to peace. This might even occur without a business being aware of the impact of the actions it takes. If, for example, it is true as some have argued, that strong ethical conduct correlates with peace, then long-term, responsible conduct of a business may also influence peacebuilding.
As a result of these conversations, another insight offered was that the biggest impact business can make to peace is in those areas that are neither the most stable nor the least stable. There may be little a business can do in the midst of the chaos of war and, in a stable country, any given contribution is likely to be small and incremental. Yet is in the “in-between” kinds of societies that businesses may make the biggest contributions and this is particularly true in regional and intra-state conflicts rather than in conflagrations occurring across borders.
The insights in the Nudges and Bridges series aim to help everyone, including business people, understand how they can contribute to peace.

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