What Conflict Means - Essay Example

Inherently, a conflict is the incompatibility in the objectivity or opinion of two or more different people, parties, forces, or characters. All conflicts create tensions and make’s a story more interesting by adding doubt and anticipation for an outcome (Wandberg, 2001).While most conflicts are usually at times never resolved, it is important to notice that the resolving of a conflict usually leads to its closure. The basic nature of conflicts is that there are usually different forces or ideologies that lead the opposing forces. It is because of these different forces or ideologies that there exists miss understanding between the individuals, groups, parties, or forces involved in the conflict (Raines, 2013). The two conflicting sides in a conflict are usually referred to as the protagonists and antagonists. There are various classifications of conflict, these include man against society: this is where man is in conflict with a social institution that is man-made. Conflicts that come under this classification, include the social conflicts, for example slavery, and bullying (Wandberg, 2001). The underlying principle here is that man is forced to make moral choices or is deeply forced by society’s moral values and rules that make him or her frustrated and desperately long for change. Man against man: this is wherepeople are usually against other people, it is also referred to as external conflict, and it may be in terms of direct opposition, for example, buy the use of weapons, for example, the Vietnam War, or World War II or reflect a subtle conflict of desires between two or more parties, for example, family disputes or a romance war (Dana, 2001). Man against nature: this is a type of conflict where man is in conflict with a particular force of nature, for example, animals; this has greatly been depicted in various parts of the world as man encroaches into territories that are usually in habited by animals (Iršič, 2007). Additionally man could be experiencing weird forces of nature which include storms, tornedoes, snow storms as well as snow storms. Man against self: this is a classification of conflict where man tries too hard to overcome his or her own nature and follow a particular path that he or she deems desirable. It is also referred to as internal conflict and individuals apply the logic of good or evil, for example, a drug addict desperately trying to fight his addiction, a sinner desperately trying to avoid sin and embrace salvation (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). In this particular piece of work, the focus shall be on social conflicts, with a thick analysis of some of theories by some early philosophers on social conflicts as well as a comprehensive evaluation of a known and widely cared about social conflict, the parties involved, the casual factors of concern, goals of the parties and major events associated with the conflict, and finally a brief summary of the papers contents as well as stressing factors to make up the conclusion of this paper (Dana, 2001). Social conflicts are basically struggles for power or agency in society. Also referred to as group conflict, it occurs when two or more individuals conflict each other in a social context or in social interaction. They either exert social powers to particular situations with the intention of achieving incompatible goals and stopping the opponent from attaining them (Rahim, 2011). It is usually a social relationship whereby the actions by one party are done intentionally against the will of the other party or intentionally to harm or prejudice the other party. It usually takes the form of stratification and conflict of interests. Stratification can be defined as the distribution of valued goods and commodities in levels, it’s mainly looked up in terms of inequalities between groups of people or individuals. According to Weber, there are 3 different types of stratification and these include: status (prestige), economic class (property), and power (Deutsch, Coleman & Marcus, 2011). Prestige is usually the position valued in society and is usually given to an individual as he or she interacts with others. Property or economic class is related to control, whereas power, influences interactions with others as well as positions of influence. There are various systems of stratification, these include: peoples opportunities as well as life experiences wholly depends on the ranking of the social category they belong to, for example, the caste system in India (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). The ranks of different social categories in society change slowly overtime, for example, still on the caste system in India, it’s still being practiced in some parts of India till date, and the rankings usually refer to social categories of individual’s considered to share common features or characteristics, for example, the Blacks, Indians etc. without necessarily identifying and interacting with one another (Ramsbotham, Woodhouse & Miall, 2011). Conflicts of interest can be defined as a situation whereby an individual has private interests sufficient to influence or dictate the objectives of his or her duties, whether as an employee, a public official, or a professional (Dana, 2001). It is important to notice that social conflicts are never limited to antagonistic positions or hostility neither is it wholly based on the clash of coercive form, but of any opposing powers that exit in society. Social conflict is usually characterized by physical behavior and violence (Stewart & Maxwell, 2010). It is usually more than just killing and harming each other, but also cognitive torture that is at times really frustrating. According to Dr. Closer, a sociologist, defines social conflict as the struggle for power, status, and scarce resources, whereas the motives of the opponent is to injure, neutralize and eliminate competition by effectively oppressing the rivals (Dana, 2001). He is guided by the mere principle that social conflict should be looked at as a dysfunction. With this he identified 3 different types of social conflict which include role conflict, conflict of interests, and conflict involving social positions. Social positions are basically positions individuals occupy in society. It is important to keep in mind that this positions influence social class, and one can belong to more than one social position. However, despite being able to belong to more than social position, one can only belong to one social status (Dunne & Alberson, 2003).There is conflict of social positions, where individuals face opposition or apply opposing pressure to individuals in as they put effort of trying to move from one category to another. Role conflict mainly occurs when there are incompatible expectations put on an individual in a particular role cohort (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). Hence, compliance with both roles would be difficult and one would experience role conflict. Social conflicts have existed in a number of societies, and have taken many different forms throughout the ages (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). They occur in a very wide and holistic range, for example, tensions in social hierarchy like the Indian caste system, conflict in religious ideologies like the Muslims and Christians, tense differences in the allocation of resources like disparity in the allocation of social amenities by the government etc. In western societies such as the United States and Australia, social conflicts are inevitable; this is because of the cultural diversity that exists in these societies (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). For example, Australia, is a cultural diverse country, this mainly implies that there are many people in the country that have migrated into the country and have brought with them their cultural customs as well as norms. Therefore, social conflicts would arise when the norms of the society in which people have migrated into contradicts with societal norms of the people that have migrated into the country (Raines, 2013). For example, Middle Eastern women are expected not to conform in their traditional forms of dressing when they are in schools in Australia, additionally, both men and women from the Middle East and face a lot of prejudice and discrimination in the United States as they are commonly associated with terrorism (Shapiro & Ebrary, 2004). The discrimination is usually part of society’s moral panic to various terror attacks they’ve experienced over the years. Additionally, there is high possibility of social conflicts occurring because of individualism (Deutsch, Coleman & Marcus, 2011). Individualism is the creation of one’s own identity by simply creatingvalues and norms of their own; hence, conflict arises as two individuals meet. One of the major and widely known conflicts in society is social divisions in the industrial societies, commonly referred to as class conflict by Karl Marx. According to Karl Marx, class conflict is differences between two or more classes based on political, cultural as well as social economic differences (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). The conflict can take many different forms, for example, conflict between the employer and the employee at a work place, conflict highly inclined to social economic factors, for example, conflict between the rich and the poor as the rich are able to access more benefits to life as the poor experience poverty, economic pressure and illness (Picard, 2002). Karl Marx divided society into two different classes, these include the upper class, also referred to as the bourgeoisie, these were the owners of the factors of production and controlled majority of the industrial society, and the lower class also referred to as the proletarians, who are simply the workers (Dana, 2001). According to Karl, the lower classes sell their labor to the upper classes in exchange for a salary or wages. This is mainly done to supplement their survival and upkeep. However, the upper class makes their earnings at the expense of the lower class. Karl Marx referrers to this as exploitation of the lower class by the upper class, furthermore, the lower class are at high risks of being di skilled due to the repetitive nature of the tasks they are given (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). They are also at risk of being alienated and disposed of once they are not of any potential to the industries. However, with time, the lower classes are bound to develop class consciousness by identifying their position in the social class structure, hence, form unions or movements to revolt against the upper classes so as to be able to control and privately own the means of production (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). Karl Marx’s theory of class conflict might have perfectly applied to past societies. However, as society’s progress and change, the assumptions Karl Marx had only partially come true.In most modern societies, conflicts between the lower class and the upper class occur frequently, but have never resulted in a revolution as explained or expected by Karl Marx (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). This can greatly be attributed to the mushrooming of various trade unions whose role is to create a good working environment for workers and owners of businesses by resolving conflicts that arise. Additionally, Karl Marx does not effectively elaborate other forms of conflict that might exist in industrialized societies, for example, racial conflicts, and gender divisions (Vangelisti, 2006). Max Weber on the other hand was influenced by the works of Karl Marx, and sort to expound on Karl Marx’s works. His work was focused on class difference also but in many different ways. According to Weber, there exists four different classes in society, and these include the working class, the white collar job holders, the petty working class and the propertied class (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). The propertied classes are those members of society that process mass means or factors of production. The white collar job owners are those tasked into administrative as well managerial positions. The petty lower classes are individuals who own little businesses and store in the society. Lastly, the working classes are the laborers that mainly work on the wage basis (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). His introduction of these classes was mainly meant to show that class is not the only form of social conflicts experienced especially in modern society. He developed a multidimensional approach to social stratification where he saw a lot of social conflicts and divisions than Karl Marx did. Weber, put his emphasis on class, power, and status (Dana, 2001). He claimed that the position an individual assumed in society mainly depended on their status, with the view of how much property they have, how other members of the society view them, and their ability to achieve their goals despite any odds they would experience. According to Weber, social conflicts may occur due to various factors, for example, the unequal distribution of power, wealth, and prestige. Individuals with very high levels of wealth are able to access property, material wealth as well health care benefits (Ramsbotham, Woodhouse & Miall, 2011). Whereas, the poor live in heavily poverty stricken areas and experience very high rates of mortality. Levels of power that are subsequently enough enable individuals to enjoy a lot of freedom and control in society. For example, politicians, enjoy a lot of power over other individuals in society (Deutsch, Coleman & Marcus, 2011). Theypossess the ability to create and change laws which form the skeletal basis of every society, hence, with these laws the can control the behaviors as well as limits of other members of society. Furthermore, they exercise enough power to effectively have the functions of core institutions under their control (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). Prestige or status is at times related to power, for instance, an individual with particular prestige or status has the ability to command respect and have authority over others maybe because of fear. On the other hand those with low prestige are generally regarded to as nobodies or the lowly members of society (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). They are usually subject on stereotypical judgments. Weber mainly aims to expound on how economic inequalities in society are based on power, prestige, wealth, and status which can also apply to other social conflicts, for example, gender division and racial conflict. Gender division is one of the most cared about social conflicts that exist in society. Before, women’s roles were majorly viewed as reproductive whereas men’s roles were viewed as productive (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). By reproductive, it meant that women in society were seen as primary care givers and they basically existed to serve the needs of their children as well as their husbands. Men were the ruling class, they owned and controlled property and exercised full economic potential (Dana, 2001). Most institutions in society were owned and controlled by men, giving them absolute power and making them the sole bread winners and providers of the family. The only positions that women could occupy were the subordinate positions, which included secretarial positions as well as domestic management (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). Due to the extreme monopoly of the factors of production men had, the assumed high prestige, and were considered the most dominant and smartest group in society. Women on the other hand were second rated to men and were considered inferior in terms of intelligence as compared to men. Because of this, most norms and values reflected the ideas and beliefs of men, this was mainly because of the high prestige men controlled and their over dominance in economic activities (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). Women for a very long time accepted this fact and were subordinated by it. However, due to the emergence of the feminist movements as well as the invention of means of contraception, women begun to challenge men in society as well as question the positions they had been subjected to assume for many years. Due to this, there was a lot of gender division and wrangles over various issues (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). Women begun standing up for themselves and demanding for rights and equality in the access to education, and job allocation. With means of contraception, women gained the power to decide on how they can live their lives by controlling their pregnancy (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). Additionally, divorce got firm rooting and with its legislation, women could easily walk out of marriages that seemed oppressing, unfair and full of gender based violence. It is important to note that gender division is a very important social conflict; this is because it helped elevate the woman by changing her role in society (Stewart & Maxwell, 2010). With it, women can now effectively and efficiently compete with men in fields that were before male dominated. It has again changed and transformed social norms and views about women that were stereotypic. For example, women are weaker, hence, cannot venture into particular male dominated fields, or women are emotional, hence, fields that require quick judgment and decision making are not suited for them, i.e. army positions or positions of leadership (Dana, 2001). Finally, this social conflict aided in ensuring that there is equal distribution of power, status, wealth and prestige across genders. The second social conflict to be discussed in this paper is the racial conflict. In majority of the industrialized countries, issues of ethnicity and race have always been key issues of concern. Western societies are notoriously known for the way they conduct themselves especially when it comes to the way they treat people that belong to other races i.e. the non-whites. In the United States, before the civil war, the black Americans, also referred to as the African Americans were seen and treated as low class citizens solely due to the color of their skin (Raines, 2013). The Black Americans were mainly used for forced labor, with the men serving in White American plantations as the women worked as personal maid or housekeeper in the White American homes. The liberties and behaviors of black Americans were strictly controlled by the White Americans through disfranchisement mainly because the White Americans constituted the ruling class or elites in the society (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). The Black Americans were forced to occupy the impoverished areas of the country while the White Americans occupied affluent areas; areas associated with high levels of prestige and were extremely productive (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). White Americans had access to education whereas the African Americans had access to this right taken from them. With high restrictions to social mobility, tensions intensified between the African Americans and the Black Americans. The White Americans had ample access to all the power and control in social institutions they could have access to whereas African Americans could not access social amenities such as healthcare (Deutsch, Coleman & Marcus, 2011). As a result of all this socially instigated oppression of the African Americans by the White Americans, the important social norms and values of society were solely based on the perceptions and ideas of the White Americans and were forcefully imposed on the African Americans. Most of these values and norms were prejudicial and stereotypic and serve the function of maintaining the White Americans prestige high while that of the African Americans low (Dana, 2001). Social conflicts started arising in the early 1950s, when a civil rights movement, referred to as the African American civil rights movement championed and demanded for equal treatment and rights of all populations in the country, by this, they simply demanded that the White American population consider the African American population as equal populations, subject to the same rights and privileges (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). It is due to the efforts of this movement that most African Americans gained a majority of their rights. With the abolishment of separate schools for black Africans and white Africans in the famous Brown vs. the board of education, African Americans got the privilege to enroll in any school of their choice (Klarman & Klarman, 2007). This created more social tension, for example, the governor of Alabama, Wallace George, attempted to interfere and block two African American students from getting admitted to the University of Alabama. Despite the progress made to cab racism as a source of social conflict shown in the above 2 paragraphs, racism still ignites and fuels conflict across the globe.According to the Geneva summit held on the 21st of March 2012, racism was ranked among some of the leading factors to conflicts which may escalate to physical armed conflicts as a result of discrimination, marginalization, and dehumanization of members of a particular race (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). It was listed alongside other factors which include intolerance and xenophobia. According to the United Nations experts, racism continues to be a major factor that hinders peaceful and friendly relations among individuals, groups of individuals and nations (Bartos & Wehr, 2002). The also attributed this to the weak institutions of law that exist, the absence of strong democratic structures, poor representation of peoples plea by the political institutions that exist. Most of which escalates to violence along racial lines if not handled in a comprehensive manner and the most effective time as possible (Grant & Kirton, 2007). The experts further advice that relevant institutions should pay attention to early signs and symptoms. This includes noticing social exclusion and marginalization of particular groups of populations. They should work their level best to reduce amend discriminatory rules and policies of legislation (Dana, 2001). They should monitor the persistence of particular racial stereotypes as well as prejudice and effectively work on punishing members of society that engage in elements of hate speech, violent activities targeting a particular racial or ethnic group. During the summit there was particular emphasis put on ensuring that there is equity for all members of the society especially in the enjoyment of economic, civil, cultural, political and social rights. This should be done with no discrimination based of ethnic origin, descent, race, color, and nationality. Good governing policies, respect of the rule of law and allowing the minority to participate in political affairs are some of the major tenets applicable to reducing racial conflicts in society (Dunne & Alberson, 2003). Additionally, attention was shifted to non-state actors; these include national human rights institutions, the media, the civil society, non-governmental organizations, and political parties. These actors are commissioned with the task of being watchdogs; they should make public remarks and critically publicize acts of discrimination either in the government or in the society. Despite this, they should play a great role in the promotion of peace, tolerance, respect for diversity, mutual understanding and above all love for one another. After the critical analysis of the above social conflicts, the question of whether these conflicts are successfully influencing change in society or are still experiencing resistance and challenges arises. With the social conflict gender division, it is seen that women now enjoy a lot of choice as well as freedom (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). However, it is true to say that they are still experiencing challenges in many societies across the globe. For example, a majority of women may have access to a lot of places of work that were previously male dominated, however, the approximated wage earning comparison of males and females show that males still earn more. This indicates that majority of the women do not get access to highly paying positions and only a few positions have been made vacant for women to occupy (Dana, 2001). Additionally, the application process for benefits, for example, parental leave, as well as maternity is clouded with a lot of restrictions that frustrate most women. The above factors still need addressing for women to fully enjoy the same privileges as men do. On the social conflict of race conflict, there is evidence of a holistic change in society. This can be seen with the drastic reduction of conflicts and arguments based on race (Hocker & Wilmot, 2013). With this, it is justifying to say that majority of the institutions are now fully mixed with members of races and this includes schools, and places of work. Many African Americans occupy high ranking positions and control high levels of wealth, prestige, status and power, for example President Barack Obama. Specialists as well as researchers insist that racial classes no longer exist. Right now there is only great focus and emphasis on material possession and individual accumulation of wealth. This takes us back to class conflict, where the amount of wealth an individual controls determines the class or status they are in. Hence, it is still clear that the social conflict of class conflict is still facing challenges and great opposition. In conclusion, there are a lot of social conflicts in modern societies. Class conflict was a very important social conflict of study during the early industrial era, drawn from the Marxist paradigm. However, the theory was too simple;it failed in expounding on other forms of conflict. Additionally, important elements, for example, power, wealth, and status that greatly contribute to conflict and social inequalities as drawn from Weber’s stratification theory were not focused on efficiently. According to Weber’s theory, wealth, status, prestige, and power are important contributing factors to a lot of social conflicts, for example, racial conflicts, and gender division. Despite this conflicts still existing in a majority of societies across the globe in this 21st century, there is a great deal of work being done to reduce the gap of inequality that exists between individuals, hence, reducing social conflicts. References: Top of Form Bartos, O. J., & Wehr, P. E. (2002). Using conflict theory. New York: Cambridge University Press. Top of Form Dana, D. (2001). Conflict resolution: Mediation tools for everyday worklife. New York: McGraw-Hill. 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