Editing Competition (section)

{{Short description|Rivalry where multiple parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared}}
{{Other uses|Competition (disambiguation)|Compete (disambiguation)|Competitor (ship)}}

[[File:Athletics competitions.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Competition in sports. One selection of images showing some of the sporting events that are classed as [[sport of athletics|athletics]] competitions.]]

'''Competition''' is a [[rivalry]] where two or more parties strive for a common [[goal]] which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a [[zero-sum game]]).<ref>{{Citation |last1=Smith |first1=Ken G. |title=Competitive Dynamics Research: Critique and Future Directions |date=2017-11-26 |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/b.9780631218616.2006.00012.x |work=The Blackwell Handbook of Strategic Management |pages=309–354 |editor-last=Hitt |editor-first=Michael A. |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1111/b.9780631218616.2006.00012.x |isbn=978-1-4051-6402-3 |access-date=2022-09-11 |last2=Ferrier |first2=Walter J. |last3=Ndofor |first3=Hermann |editor2-last=Freeman |editor2-first=R. Edward |editor3-last=Harrison |editor3-first=Jeffrey S.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individuals, economic and social groups, etc. The rivalry can be over attainment of any exclusive goal, including [[Recognition (sociology)|recognition]].

Competition occurs in nature, between living organisms which co-exist in the same [[natural environment|environment]]. Animals compete over water supplies, food, mates, and other [[resource (biology)|biological resources]]. [[Human]]s usually [[Survival of the fittest|compete for food and mates]], though when these needs are met deep rivalries often arise over the pursuit of [[wealth]], power, prestige, and [[celebrity|fame]] when in a static, repetitive, or unchanging environment.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Cabral |first1=J. Centurion |last2=Garcia |first2=Calebe Mattos |last3=Solano |first3=Maiara |last4=de Almeida |first4=Rosa Maria Martins |date=2022-12-29 |title=More than a feeling: Effects of competitive asymmetry on human emotions |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00221309.2022.2160427 |journal=The Journal of General Psychology |volume=150 |issue=4 |language=fr
 |pages=485–511 |doi=10.1080/00221309.2022.2160427 |pmid=36579926 |s2cid=255292057 |issn=0022-1309|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Competition is a major tenet of [[market economy|market economies]] and business, often associated with business competition as companies are in competition with at least one other firm over the same group of customers. Competition inside a company is usually stimulated with the larger purpose of meeting and reaching higher quality of services or improved products that the company may produce or develop.

Competition is often considered to be the opposite of [[cooperation]]; however, in the real world, mixtures of cooperation and competition are the norm.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Competition |url=https://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Competition.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317221907/https://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Competition.php |archive-date=17 March 2022 |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Sociology Guide}}</ref> In economies, as the philosopher R. G. Collingwood argued "the presence of these two opposites together is essential to an economic system. The parties to an economic action co-operate in competing, like two chess players".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Collingwood|first=Robin, George|date=1926|title=Economics as a Philosophical Science|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/intejethi.36.2.2377247?journalCode=intejethi|journal=The International Journal of Ethics|volume=36|issue=2|pages=162–185 at. p. 177|doi=10.1086/intejethi.36.2.2377247|s2cid=143530850|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Optimal strategies to achieve goals are studied in the branch of mathematics known as [[game theory]].

Competition has been studied in several fields, including [[psychology]], [[sociology]] and [[anthropology]]. Social [[psychologist]]s, for instance, study the nature of competition. They investigate the natural urge of competition and its circumstances. They also study [[group dynamics]], to detect how competition emerges and what its effects are. [[Sociologist]]s, meanwhile, study the effects of competition on society as a whole. Additionally, [[anthropologist]]s study the [[history]] and prehistory of competition in various cultures. They also investigate how competition manifested itself in various [[culture|cultural]] settings in the past, and how competition has developed over time.