Can Game Theory Combat Discrimination?

When and why do people cooperate or compete? Hawk Dove invites a constructive solution, much like Prisoner’s Dilemma. It is even amenable to the same type of solution, such as tit for tat, provided that all actors are alike. However, in the particular case in which there is a marker making each individual a member of a group, such as being white or nonwhite, or being male or female, the Hawk Dove game has a peculiar property. It shows that without anyone intending to be sexist or racist, when individuals play the game out of narrow self-interest, over rounds of repeated play in a population facing new partners regularly, a global pattern of discrimination emerges. One type of actor always submits to and is dominated by the other type of actor.