
Van den Berghe contends that intergroup relations are reducible to individuals competing for scarce resources. While social classes are grouped according to common material interests, ethnic groups are organized by real or punitive common descent--ultimately on the basis of common...

A gem of a book for scholars in race and ethnic relations and sociobiology. . . . Van den Berghe analyzes various forms that race and ethnic relations have displayed including colonial empires, slavery, middleman minorities, caste systems, and assimilation. The causes and consequences...