民族冲突的社会心理机制

Psychosocial Underpinnings of Ethnic Conflict in China

民族冲突是影响社会和谐与稳定的重大现实问题,其社会心理机制是尚未解决的重要科学问题。本项目拟以我国西部地区藏族为例,纳入社会威胁情境因素,并整合社会认同理论和社会类别的心理本质论框架下的群际冲突研究。其基本理论命题是:民族冲突形成并不是单一因素所致,而是基于个体层面、群体层面和社会情境层面的多水平变量相互作用的结果。本项目拟通过既相对独立又彼此关联的三个实证研究,旨在考察少数民族关于"民族"的心理本质论对民族冲突的预测和影响作用,探索民族身份延伸和社会威胁情境在其中的影响作用,从而揭示民族冲突形成的社会心理机制,旨在为构建民族冲突的预警机制模型奠定基础,为跨越民族界限、实现多民族和谐共处和完善民族政策提供科学依据。

As a major social issue, ethnic conflict may endanger social harmony and stability. As one of critical scientific issues, the underlying psychosocial processes of ethnic conflict are still underexplored. Our research project aims to explore psychosocial underlying factors of ethnic conflict in China focusing on Tibetan-Han relations in China. The basic theoretical proposition of the project is that ethnic conflict is derived from the interaction of multi-variables including individual, intergroup, and social factors. By three empirical studies, the project will examine the effect of psychological essentialism of Tibetan on ethnic conflict, and the moderating roles of identity extending between the two, and the effect of social threat context between the two, so as to revealing the psychosocial underpinnings of ethnic conflicts. It is expected that the outcomes of the project will provide the solid evidences for building an early warning system of ethnic conflict, and for moving beyond ethnic boundaries, and for achieving a harmonious multi-ethnic coexistence in China.