Effects of Social Position on Societal Attributions of an Asymmetric Conflict
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Author | Maria Elizabeth J. Macapagal,Cristina Jayme Montiel |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343306061181 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
219
Introduction
Do groups involved in a social conflict see
the causes of their conflict from different
angles? Our research explores causal attribu-
tions of a heated social conflict, by groups
that fall on opposite sides of a war. We
wanted to find out if members of the low-
power group in the Mindanao conflict in the
Philippines explained the causes of war using
structural attributions, and if members of the
more dominant group attributed the conflict
to person-based causes.
Typically, conceptual approaches to social
peace and conflict take on a macro-lens,
using explanatory tools like social structure
and state conditions, borrowed from sociol-
ogy and political science. Our research
broadens the discourse on peace and conflict
© 2006 Journal of Peace Research,
vol. 43, no. 2, 2006, pp. 219–227
Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA
and New Delhi) http://jpr.sagepub.com
DOI 10.1177/0022343306061181
Effects of Social Position on Societal Attributions
of an Asymmetric Conflict*
CRISTINA JAYME MONTIEL & MARIA ELIZABETH
J. MACAPAGAL
Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University
Traditionally, the study of peace and conflict has employed macro explanations such as social structure
and state conditions. This article extends the discourse on peace and conflict by considering psycho-
logical conditions during a heated social conflict. The focus is on societal attribution, a cognitive process
involving shared beliefs about the causes of societal events. The present study examines the effects of
social positions on causal attributions in an asymmetric conflict that is taking place in the Philippines
on the war-torn island of Mindanao. It was expected that causal attributions of the Mindanao war
would differ between Christians and Muslims. Four hundred and thirty Muslims and Christians at
Mindanao State University-Marawi stated their degree of agreement on belief statements about per-
ceived intergroup inequality and ranked the three most important causes of the conflict in Mindanao.
Results indicated that power inequality between groups is perceived only by the disadvantaged Muslim
group, while members in the dominant social position were not sensitized to systemic issues. Findings
also indicated intergroup disagreements about the causes of the war. The marginalized Muslims believed
that structural problems, namely, displaced and landless Bangsa Moro (Muslim Nation) and loss of
rights to self-determination were important origins of the conflict. On the other hand, the dominant
Christian group attributed the Mindanao conflict to person-related causes like corruption of the mind
and moral fiber, as well as sociocultural discrimination. Implications for attribution theory and the prac-
tice of peacemaking in asymmetric conflicts are discussed.
* This research was supported by a grant from the Ateneo
de Manila Loyola Schools Scholarly Work Faculty Award
and the Kondrad Adenauer Foundation through the
Ateneo Center for Social Policy. We would like to thank
graduate students Yugie Caroline Murillo and Brenda
Batistiana for their help in the preliminary stages of our
study, as well as Alma Berowa of Mindanao State Uni-
versity-Marawi for helping us collect research data. We are
also grateful to Daniel Christie for reading our manuscript
as our English-language editor. Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to generate
the results. The data can be found at http://www.
prio.no/jpr/datasets. Correspondence: Cristina Jayme
Montiel, cmontiel@ateneo.edu.
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