Cooperation Versus Competition
posted by Oliver D. Bentley | February 14, 2022 | In OpinionBy: Oliver D. Bentley
There is a debate among sociological community concerning the utility of cooperation or competition. Some choose competition because it pushes people to perform on their highest level. This push to perform ultimately leads us to become our best selves. Concerning cooperation, it is chosen by others because of its ability to accomplish goals that cannot be accomplished by individuals alone. Cooperation also fosters a sense of community and seeks to lift up people as a whole.
So which is better, cooperation or competition?
In my opinion both cooperation and competition have positive and negative consequences. Competition can have a negative impact when it causes us to view ourselves as superior or inferior to others with which we are in competition. Also, competition leads to neglecting the outcomes of the group in favor of expressing individual achievement. Likewise, cooperation can be detrimental when we cooperate with groups who have negative goals. This can also lead to a diminished view of the self as one associates the self as merely a small portion of the group.
So which should we choose?
Bruce Lee was a great martial artist because he did not adhere to a single approach or method. Rather, he took what was good and useful from various forms of martial arts and discarded that which was not.
I believe we should apply the same thought process here. That is, we should use competition as a means by which to create our best self without allowing competition to foster feelings of superiority or inferiority while still maintaining our identity within a group dedicated to a particular outcome.
Let’s be honest, we all excel in some things and do not in others. One individual may excel at engineering, however if we place this person in a sports management position it is highly likely that the individual would feel lost and would lose the competitive edge that was present in the field of engineering. So it is absolutely untrue that one’s high level of performance in one area indicates some overall superiority. Nor does this same person’s low level of performance in another area indicate inferiority as a whole. It simply means we are all unique with different sets of abilities.
We should also use cooperation as a means to advance those goals that cannot be achieved individually. Here, we should guard against being so caught up in the group that we lose sight of what we, as unique individuals, believe to be moral and true. We should remind ourselves of who we are as an individual and compare this with the goals of the group continuously in an effort to ensure that we remain on the ethical side of things. Unhindered cooperation has resulted in many catastrophic events.
A prime example of this is Hitler’s Germany. Although many Germans did not agree with the inhumane policies of Germany, they put aside their individual beliefs in favor of cooperation. In doing so these otherwise moral individuals acted as a group to implement and enforce those policies that resulted in the deaths of countless Jewish people.
In simpler terms, compete and cooperate. Compete when that competition brings out the good in you. Cooperate when that cooperation leads to the fulfillment of shared goals. Compete within cooperation and cooperate within competition. Use these tools for the good they can create and guard against the faults they expose.
Photo Courtesy of Humbug and Oddities
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