Conflict And Consensus

1. Conflict And Consensus GondaYumitro

2. “Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.” Saul Alinsky

3. 一.What is Conflict Theory? • Conflict theory generally surrounds the idea that most struggles in society happen because of conflicts between different social classes or groups • Each group struggles to attain more resources and because resources are scarce, they must struggle with other groups • Groups try to protect their own interests, therefore blocking the progress of other groups

4. Conflict cont. • Individuals have aggressive impulses and these impulses are expressed in all relationships, especially close relationships • Love and Hate • Outside influences influence our emotions and cause conflict with those around us • From conflict comes social change • American Revolution • Civil Rights (1960’s)

5. Conflict as a Binding Element • We often mistake conflict as always being a dividing factor, it can instead have quite the opposite reaction • When two groups are pitted against one another, the bonds between members of each group within itself become much closer • But, if it becomes violence it will be worse – it can bring about public activism and force change through public attitudes

6. What is conflict • What is conflict?

7. Definitions of social conflict • Social conflict is a struggle over values or claims to status, power, and scarce resources • The aims of the conflict groups are not only to gain the desired values, but also to neutralize, injure, or eliminate rivals. • Social conflict encompasses a broad range of social phenomena: class, racial, religious, and communal conflicts; riots, rebellions, revolutions; strikes and civil disorders; marches, demonstrations, protest gatherings.

8. Theory of Social Conflict • A comprehensive theory of social conflict encompasses: • The structural sources of social conflict, relying on stratification, social change, and macro-sociological theories. • Conflict-group formation and the mobilization for collective action of challenging groups and their targets. For this topic, theories of collective action, social capital, recruitment, participation, commitment, and internal structure are useful. • The dynamics of conflict: processes of interaction between conflict groups; the forms of conflict; its magnitude, scope, and duration; escalation and de-escalation; conflict regulation and resolution; conflict outcomes.

9. There are numerous causes of conflict at all levels • Lack of cooperation • External support • Group cohesion • Communication failure • Leadership Personality • Value differences • Cultural differences • Ethnic differences • Civilization • Goal differences • Technology differences • Military built-up Economic competition Military competition Competition over natural resources such as water, forests, oil, gems etc

10. Change and conflict are continuous and normal; inherent predilections to change vary in scope, nature, intensity and degree • Every society experiences at every moment social conflict • Every element in a society contributes to its change

11. Marx and conflict theory Karl Marx Focussed on economic conditions under capitalism. • Society is product of economic production. • Productive forces: technology, energy, resources. • Productive relations: owner-worker; worker-worker. • Class is a power relationship. There must be something rotten in the very core of a social system which increases in wealth without diminishing its misery, and increases in crime even more than its numbers.” Marx, K. (1859). Population, crime and pauperism.Collected Works, (16).

12. Friedrich Engel (1920-1995) Portrayed crime as a function of social demoralization- a collapse of people’s humanity reflecting a decline in society. The brutality of the capitalist system turns workers into animal-like creatures without a will of their own.

13. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels • Social relations • Are determined by productive relations and the means of production. • Capitalism • Encourages exploitation of workers in pursuit of profit (surplus value). • Workers rise up against the owners. • Crime is a product of misery, inequality and social demoralization.

14. Society • Is composed of have and have-nots, rulers and ruled. • Laws • Reflect the interests of the dominant class. • Capitalism • Encourages egoism and criminality by equating status with property. • Punishment • Only crimes of the poor are punished. • Economic inequality • Intensifies personal problems and crime. • Crime • Will virtually disappear with equal distribution of property.

15. The justice system operates to protect the rich and powerful by: • how crimes are defined. • how laws are enforced. • how law-breakers are punished. • Power relations • Conflict is rooted in the competition for power. • Power provides the means to influence public opinion for private gain. • Those in power use the law to criminalize those without power (e.g. minority groups).

16. Definitions of Consensus • The maximum agreement among people while drawing on as much of everyone’s ideas as possible. • Level of support + strength of feeling =acceptable enough to support the choice • Theory of consensus is a theory of right and wrong which means literally “An action is right if everyone agrees that it is.” • See shared norms and values as fundamental to society • Focus on social order

17. www.workingatmcmaster.ca Consensus building requires: • time • willingness to contribute • openness and honesty • willingness to confront and resolve • no right answers • facilitation skills.

18. Skills for resolving conflict Check agreement Invite suggestions Listen to each point of view Focus on core problem Identify causes Tackle early Recognise symptoms

19. Then as like as the social contract theory of the state, there will be Social Control which defined as the means by which people are led to do their expected roles. If society is to function effectively and efficiently, its members must act the way they should be as members of society. • This theory’s excellence lies in the fact that debate, dialogue, discussion, and perspective-taking would continue until every qualified member of the community came to see the same truth.

20. In theory of consensus, It is all-inclusive.  In theory, every person involved in the decision-making-process would be consulted and all opinions would be measured as equally important. • Communities these days are too big to get everyone’s vote on every issue; decisions on the right course of action would never get decided successfully since the process to reach consensus would be very difficult.

21. Moreover, the weakness is that Some people are wiser, better listeners, more agreeable, and have a better understanding of right and wrong than others do.  So, it is not advisable to attempt to get everyone to agree all the time to know what is right. • Finally, morality is about right decisions, and just because a group of people gets together and decides to do a certain thing does not necessarily mean it is actually right.