Rivalry
A rivalry can be defined as "a perceptual categorizing process in which actors identify which states are sufficiently threatening competitors".
[2] In order for the rivalry to persist, rather than resulting in perpetual dominance by one side, it must be "a competitive relationship among equals".
[3] Political scientist John A. Vasquez has asserted that equality of power is a necessary component for a true rivalry to exist, but others have disputed that element.
[4] Rivalries traverse many different fields within society and "abound at all levels of human interaction",[5] often existing between friends, firms, sports teams, schools, and universities.
Moreover, "families, politicians, political parties, ethnic groups, regional sections of countries, and states all engage in enduring rivalries of varying length and intensity".
[8]: 404 [9]: 400 The word likely entered the English language around 1577, and appeared in the writings of William Shakespeare as early as 1623, in Two Gentlemen of Verona.
[10][b] In his 1902 Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, James Mark Baldwin defined three main types of rivalry: Alternatively, Kilduff and colleagues in their 2010 review, instead divided among three types of competition (individual, group, and organization), and distinguished rivalry specifically as a "subjective competitive relationship" which necessarily entails "increased psychological involvement and perceived stakes".
The sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality, and people and experiences outside the family.
If a commercial rival continues to gain, there is some likelihood that its closest competitor will be excluded altogether from the market in question, or else reduced to a marginal position there.
Shohov and colleagues cite Soviet Union-United States relations during the Cold War as one example of a formalized rivalry, "with its period summits and arms-control negotiations".
Horst Helle says, "society needs a particular quantitative relationship of harmony and disharmony, association and competition, favour and disfavour, in order to take shape in a specific way".
[26] Society is drawn to this in sports because this is a principal characteristic in everyday life, which can be seen in historic religious rivalries, such as the contemporary example of sectarianism in Glasgow.
Because this is an acceptable practice, there are many supporters of competition as they fuel a way for the people to participate in a rivalry without the consequences of fighting.
[12][32][33][34][needs update] These differences may lead to poor decision making on the part of groups and individuals that may not otherwise take place in the absence of a rivalry.
Examples examined in the literature include the 1994 attacks by figure skater Tonya Harding against her rival Nancy Kerrigan, the admission in court by British Airways that they had engaged in a number of unethical practices against their business rival Virgin Atlantic (including stealing confidential data and spreading rumors about CEO Richard Branson), and the overpayment of Boston Scientific in their acquisition (called the "second worst" ever) of Guidant, due to the fact that they were bidding against their rival company Johnson & Johnson.
[7][34][needs update] At the extreme, competition between rivals "possesses some likelihood of escalation to physical damage".
