Social conflict, its functions, typology and types

Typology of conflicts

1. Subjects of a conflict situation: intrapersonal, group, interpersonal, intergroup.
2. Foundation: ethnic, economic, political.
3. Conflict type: rivalry, competition, confrontation.
4. Object of conflict: values ​​and interests.
5. Consequences: constructive and destructive.

The subjects of the conflict are

: witnesses (observers), instigators (people pushing others into a collision), accomplices (people who help develop the conflict with advice), mediators (people trying to resolve a conflict situation).

Subject of the conflict

– possession of one or another resource.

Cause of the conflict

- circumstances that led to a clash between the two sides. The reason is expressed in the need to use resources.

Reason for conflict

- any event that contributes to the emergence of contradictions. Reasons are divided into spontaneous and intentional.

Contradiction

– disagreement of the points of view of the conflicting parties on economic, cultural, political issues.

↑ Structure of social conflict

• Subjects (participants) of the conflict.

The subjects of social conflict
can be individuals, various social communities (groups, classes, nations, parties, etc.) and international communities.

• Subject (object) of the conflict

The subject of the conflict
may be economic and social benefits, material and spiritual values, political regimes, legal institutions, political and public leaders, their programs, ideological doctrines, religious beliefs, human rights and freedoms, moral and aesthetic ideals, various traditions and much more...

• Conflict interaction.

Manifests itself in such forms as dispute, ultimatum, threats, demonstration of force, armed conflict, etc. If the participants do not interact (for example, they are separated spatially), then there is not a conflict, but a conflict situation, that is, a state of relations between social groups when conflict is possible, but by no means obligatory.

• Social and psychological properties of subjects of conflict.

The consciousness of the participants in the confrontation, their conflicting intentions and plans, the presence or absence of experience in conflict confrontations, attitudes towards intransigence or compromise, etc.

• The result is how it all ended, the outcome of the conflict.

Types of contradictions

1. Internal contradictions are a clash of interests of two parties, represented by individuals, groups or organizations.
2. Antagonistic - open hostility that does not imply a truce; non-antagonistic – accepting compromises).
3. Basic and non-basic contradictions;
4. Objective and subjective contradictions.

At the beginning of any kind of conflict there are contradictions that manifest themselves in social tension; they are latent and static; conflict is an open form of conflict.

Social conflict is a stage of clash of interests of individuals, groups, institutions or organizations that increase opposing tendencies. It is expressed in the confrontation of individuals or groups for the use or possession of a good.

Social conflict concepts

1. Simmel’s concept , conflict occupies an important place in the life of society, because updates the structure of life and outdated cultural norms.
2. Spencer put forward the idea that conflict is expressed in the clash of people for existence, which is limited due to limited resources.
3. According to Marx , the conflict between production and production relations, in the course of the development of technology and technology, is expressed more clearly and sharply, being a harbinger of revolutions where a change in production occurs, as a result of which society reaches a new level.
4. Weber – in society there is a constant clash of interests of individuals or groups, because society is presented as an arena where social structures are confronted and social roles and statuses are mastered.

↑ Consequences and functions of social conflicts:

The functions of social conflicts perform informational-cognitive, integrative, differentiating, adaptive, destructive functions.

• informational and cognitive (helps to learn about the presence of a social problem that needs a solution)
• integrative (More often when the conflict is not internal, but external. Thus, economic (trade wars, etc.), political, ideological or military conflicts with other states, as a rule, contribute to the integration of society into a single whole);
• differentiating (society or social groups split into opposing groups, sometimes new social groups arise)
• adaptive (new conditions of social life are formed, a different arrangement of social forces, a transformation of forms and methods of activity and relationships, a revaluation of values ​​occurs, etc.)
• destructive (in the presence of a number of conditions (primarily the use of violence), the negative consequences of the conflict come to the fore - disorganization of society, obstacles to its unification)

Conflicts have not only negative consequences, but also positive ones. Positive consequences:

• there is a complete or partial elimination of the contradiction;
• conflicts stimulate social change
• conflicts make it possible to more deeply assess the individual psychological characteristics of people;
• conflicts reduce mental tension;
• Conflicts serve as a source of personality development and experience in interpersonal relationships.

Negative consequences include: 1) the occurrence of stressful situations, a negative impact on the mental state of the participants in the conflict;
2) destruction of communication traditions; 3) deterioration in the quality of joint activities. Thus, social conflicts are inevitable (and even in some cases necessary), and the task of society is not an idealistic desire to eliminate conflicts, but to reduce their destructive effects and use their positive opportunities.

Functions of social conflicts

Positive features:

• information about social tension in society;
• obtaining new information during a collision;
• conflict plays the role of group cohesion;
• formation of new forms of behavior and values;
• relieving tension.

Negative features:

• formation of stressful situations;
• destruction of organization in society;

Causes of social conflicts: differences between individuals in society; opposing interests and opinions; difference in financial situation, amount of power; culture; psychological characteristics (character, temperament); type of behavior.

Stages of conflict

: the emergence of a conflict situation, conflict, end of conflict.

Social and psychological causes of conflicts

In addition to objective reasons, there are also socio-psychological factors that cause many conflicts between people.

5

Unfavorable socio-psychological climate

Personal hostility between team members, oppressive environment, low cohesion among group members, etc. create an unfavorable atmosphere in which conflicts can arise over any little thing.

6

Differences in the psychological characteristics of people

Everyone has their own temperament, their own psychological characteristics. Sometimes people just don't fit together. Despite their best efforts, they find it difficult to find a common language and cannot establish productive relationships.

7

The cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort that occurs when two contradictory ideas collide in a person's mind.

For example, the child may be told that he must always tell the truth. At the same time, he may be scolded for some confessions. As a result, if he does something disgraceful, he will be faced with two contradictory ideas: “you need to tell the truth” and “you can’t tell the truth” - he will be scolded.

The state of cognitive dissonance is difficult to experience; the person is on edge, torn between contradictions. Due to such psychological stress, the likelihood of a conflict increases significantly.

8

In-group favoritism

In a large team, small groups can arise. This can lead to stratification, conflicts and hostility between small groups. It is difficult to avoid intra-group division, but it is not at all required. It is enough to ensure that within the team there is no division into “us” and “strangers”.

9

The desire for power

Some agree to the role of an ordinary member of the team, while others absolutely need to command everyone. And if two such people, striving for power, collide, then conflict cannot be avoided.

But even if there is only one person who wants to be at the helm, not everyone will like it. Few people like to obey and follow other people's instructions if they are not paid for it.

10

Egocentrism

Egocentrism is the inability to put oneself in another person’s place and to look at the situation from his point of view. This is one of the most common causes of conflict.

Unfortunately, people are limited in their ability to see the world through someone else's eyes. And someone deliberately does not want to understand the other and is content with their one-sided view.

As a result, situations arise in which everyone, from his point of view, is right. And if everyone is confident that they are right, conflict certainly cannot be avoided.

11

Selfishness

If everyone thinks only about themselves, then conflicts of interest and clashes on the way to achieving goals cannot be avoided. A trivial example: there is one product left on the counter and two customers begin to argue over it. Nobody wants to give in, everyone wants to take this product for themselves. The result is conflict.

12

Competition

In a competitive environment, conflicts are also not uncommon. Moreover, a competitive environment occurs not only in the workplace, but in other areas of life. Let's look at an example:

Company of friends. One of them, Anton, is distinguished by his erudition and often explains something to others. One day he could not answer the question of his comrades, but Marina was able to do it.

And Anton immediately felt that he had lost ground, that he no longer seemed the smartest, the palm was snatched from his hands. This causes anger towards Marina, which can cause conflict over an insignificant issue.

He may also try to deliberately put Marina in a bad light in order to become number one again. This, in turn, will provoke Marina to respond.

13

Inability to resolve conflicts constructively

What is scary is not so much the conflict itself as the emotional reaction of people who are unable to approach its solution impartially.

If a person is not ready to compromise, does not want to listen and hear his opponent, does not admit that he may be wrong, a conflict that could have been discussed and resolved without any problems becomes colored by personal claims, negative emotions and begins to bring many times more discomfort. .

Therefore, it is worth not only avoiding situations in which conflict may arise, but also learning to painlessly cope with existing conflict situations. By the way, you can do this with the help of our course on conflict management - we highly recommend taking it.

We wish you success!

We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Characteristics and types of conflict personality
• Conflicts in the work team: what they are and how to avoid them
• Conflicts and strategies for dealing with them
• Social groups: signs, types, functions
• Causes of prejudice
• Eldred's Power Strategy
• Resolving conflicts in a team
• Stages of team formation according to Tuckman
• How to Deal with Conflicts of Interest
• Bell and Hart's Eight Causes of Conflict

Key words:1Communication

Typology and types of social conflicts

Parties to conflicts

The subjects of contradictions are: individuals, social formations, institutions, ethnic groups, civilizations.
Stages of the conflict
: latent stage, formation of a contradictory situation, incident, actions of the subjects, completion of the conflict situation.

Interethnic conflicts are divided by reasons and nature :

• Socio-economic reasons - associated with the phenomena of inflation, unemployment, crisis, when the population of the state is not able to ensure the satisfaction of basic needs, the monopoly of one ethnic group on another.
• Cultural and linguistic reasons – ethnic cultural characteristics: language, its development and preservation, provision of protection for ethnic minorities.
• Ethnodemographic reasons - a change in the number of any nationality, i.e. an increase in the percentage of the past population due to migration flows.
• Ethno-territorial-status reasons - territorial discrepancy in the settlement of the ethnic group, the need to expand the territory and acquire a new status.
• Historical reasons - the historical past in the form of wars, deportations.
• Interreligious reasons – differences of confessional nature.
• Separatist reasons - the demand for independence or autonomy of a separate territory, the creation of a new state.

Ways to resolve social conflicts: negotiations, arbitration, mediation, concessions, compromise.

Ways out of conflict situations: return to a non-conflict state of society, waiting, abandoning the old to develop the new.

Types of social conflicts

Let us list the main types of social conflicts.

By the number of participants in the conflict:

• intrapersonal (interesting to psychologists and psychoanalysts);
• interpersonal (for example, between friends);
• intergroup (for example, competition between firms).

According to the direction of the conflict:

• horizontal (between people of the same level, for example, manager versus manager);
• vertical (employee versus management);
• mixed (both).

According to the function of social conflict:

• destructive (a fight on the street, a fierce argument);
• constructive (a duel in the ring according to the rules, an intelligent discussion).

By duration:

• short-term;
• protracted.

By means of resolution:

• peaceful or non-violent;
• armed or violent.

According to the content of the problem:

• economic;
• political;
• production;
• household;
• spiritual and moral, etc.

By the nature of development:

• spontaneous (unintentional);
• deliberate (pre-planned).

By volume:

• global (World War II);
• local (Chechen war);
• regional (Israel and Palestine);
• group (managers versus accountants);
• personal (household, family).