Sacred Values and Cultural Conflict JEREMY GINGES AND SCOTT ATRAN

Th is chapter reviews a body of research on sacred values and cultural confl ict. Research conducted in the West Bank, Iran, Indonesia, and India reveals that when people transform a resource, idea, or activity into a sacred value, normative approaches to dispute resolution may fail. In a series of experiments, the authors fi nd that off ering material incentives to encourage people to compromise over a sacred value will often “backfi re” leading to heightened opposition to such compromise. In contrast, culturally sensitive attempts to off er powerful symbolic gestures—such as a painful apology or sacrifi ce over one’s own sacred values—often increase fl exibility towards compromise. Th e chapter also discusses a direction of future research focusing on the way people manage sacred values over time.