Rivalry

A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the 'against each other' spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called 'a rivalry', and each participant or side a rival to the other. Someone's main rival may be called an archrival. A rivalry can be defined as 'a perceptual categorizing process in which actors identify which states are sufficiently threatening competitors'. In order for the rivalry to persist, rather than resulting in perpetual dominance by one side, it must be 'a competitive relationship among equals'. 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. Rivalries traverse many different fields within society and 'abound at all levels of human interaction', often existing between friends, firms, sports teams, schools, and universities. Furthermore, 'amilies, politicians, political parties, ethnic groups, regional sections of countries, and states all engage in enduring rivalries of varying length and intensity'. Rivalries develop from the product of competition and ritualism between different parties. In some cases, rivalry can become 'so consuming that actors worry only about whether their actions will harm or benefit their rivals'. A rivalry generally refers to competition between people or groups, where each strives to be more successful than the other. Alternatively, and especially when used in the verb form (rivaled and rivaling in American English, and rivalled and rivalling in British English) it may indicate a relationship of equality, as in 'the rival of their peers,' 'a person without rival,' or an 'unrivaled performance'. The origin of the root rival comes from the Middle French and Latin rivalis, and the French rivus, meaning a person who drinks from or utilizes the same brook or stream as another.:404:400 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. 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 'increasedpsychological involvement and perceived stakes'. More modern research has also identified similarity, proximity, and history of competition as necessary antecedents for the establishment of a rivalry, while others have suggested that incivility may reduce the need for a history of competition to solidify the rival relationship. Where a person or entity has multiple rivals, the most significant one may be called an archrival. In fiction, it is common for a recurring heroic characters to have an archrival or archenemy to serve as a foil to the hero. However, an archrival may also be distinguished from a nemesis, with the latter being an enemy whom the hero cannot defeat (or who defeats the hero), even while not being a longstanding or consistent enemy to the hero. A rivalry in which competitors remain at odds over specific issues or outcomes, but otherwise maintain civil relations, can be called a friendly rivalry. Institutions such as universities often maintain friendly rivalries, with the idea that ' friendly rivalry encourages an institution to bring to the fore the very best it has to offer, knowing that if it is deficient, others will supersede it'. In some instances, institutions such as corporations, sports leagues, or military units, may encourage friendly rivalries between subsets within that institution. For example, in the 1870s, the British Army held a sports competition in which individual military units selected members to compete against those selected by other units, for the purpose of engendering friendly rivalries between the units to promote internal cohesion. Such rivalries may also be encouraged in order to prompt individual members of those subsets to compete more productively. Interservice rivalries can occur between different branches of a country's armed forces, arising from the competition for limited resources among a nation's land, naval, and air forces. The term also applies to the rivalries between a country's intelligence services (e.g. CIA and FBI in the United States), or between the police and fire services of a city, such as the NYPD and FDNY.