# us versus them (split)

*Ordinarily means:* a way of seeing the world as a conflict between one's own group and another

A collective self that divides into an in-group and an out-group, reading the reach of the out-group as set against its own walls.

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [collective self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective-self.shared), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [in-group](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-in-group.inside), [out-group](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-out-group.outside), [enemy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-enemy.against), [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [division](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-division.process), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [set](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-set.fix), [against](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-against.opposition), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end)

**Through:** Drawing a boundary is not yet a split; the split comes when the other group's reach is read as aimed at one's walls, so each gain across the line reads as a loss.

**Novel properties:**
- a boundary turned into a front
- gains read as the other's losses

## Examples
- In Henri Tajfel's minimal group experiments of the early 1970s, boys sorted into groups on a trivial basis favoured their own group when sharing out rewards. *(psychology)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-us-versus-them.split*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-us-versus-them.split.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*