Playing the Zero-Sum Game

In 1948, J. S. Furnivall argued that colonial societies were plural societies. In studying societies in the Far East he recognized that different peoples live side by side but separately within the same nation state, with persons from different groups coming into contact mainly in the marketplace. People are integrated within their own institutions, with institutional diversity occurring across society. They differ on the basis of values, beliefs, and forms of organization. Yet, the society holds together. How does this occur? It was initially thought that these societies were held together by consensus, but M. G. Smith and L. Kuper later argued that they were held together by force. That is, there exists a dominant cultural group that regulates intersectional relations through the control of government. Rights and privileges are granted by the dominant group.

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