Realistic group conflict theory posits that intergroup conflict
is the result of real groups competing over real material or
symbolic resources in a winner-takes-all manner that breeds
hostility (Brief, Umphress, Dietz, Burrows, Butz & Scholten,
2005). The neoclassical elite approach focuses on conflict
between the ruling elites and the masses of ordinary people.
The ruling elite rationalise their power through systems that
legitimise their ideologies as sacrosanct