The entirety of the genocide which occurred in Rwanda – and is often compared to the current atrocities in Darfur – is based in conflict between groups. In Rwanda, the division of the groups named Hutu and Tutsi was done and defined by the Belgian colonists. Because of the way in which the groups were given different roles, and only one was given power at a time, the group membership of individuals defined their social, economic, and political position at a given time. Social psychology deals with group membership a great deal. Conclusively, individuals can derive personal self-esteem from our groups and the achievements of other group members. Thus, when the Tutsis were given all political power when the Belgians receded from Rwanda, all Tutsis’ self-esteem and self-concept improved because of the power gained by their group.
The social identity theory speaks to this concept. It argues a model motivated by an individuals’ need fro self-esteem. The model predicts that both our personal identity and social identity contribute to our self-esteem. Our personal identity is defined, in large part, by our personal achievements, whereas our social identity is defined by group achievements and favoritism towards our group and degradation of the other group. In this way the model asserts that individuals’ self-esteem also increases when the other group is degraded. This theory is extremely helpful when attempting to understand why the Tutsis in Rwanda not only encouraged solely the advancement of their fellow, or in-group, Tutsis, but why they oppressed their out-group, the Hutus. For the sake of self-esteem and self-advancement, oppression and severe favoritism dictated the policies of the Tutsis in power in Rwanda. For the sake of self-esteem, nearly a million people were killed.
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