One of the conditions for the development of society is the opposition different groups. The more complex the structure of society, the more it is fragmented and the greater the risk of such a phenomenon as social conflict. Thanks to him, the development of all mankind as a whole takes place.

What is social conflict?

This is the highest stage at which confrontation develops in relations between individuals, groups, and the whole society as a whole. The concept of social conflict means the contradiction of two or more parties. In addition, there is also an intrapersonal confrontation, when a person has needs and interests that contradict each other. This problem dates back more than one millennium, and it is based on the position that some should be “at the helm”, while others should obey.

What causes social conflicts?

The foundation is contradictions of a subjective-objective nature. Objective contradictions include the confrontation between "fathers" and "children", bosses and subordinates, labor and capital. The subjective causes of social conflicts depend on the perception of the situation by each individual and his attitude towards it. Conflictologists identify a variety of grounds for the emergence of confrontation, here are the main ones:

1. Aggression, which can be shown by all animals, including humans.
2. Overcrowding and factors environment.
3. hostility towards society.
4. Social and economic inequality.
5. Cultural contradictions.

Separately taken individuals and groups can conflict because of material goods, paramount life attitudes and values, powers of power, etc. In any field of activity, a dispute can arise due to incompatible needs and interests. However, not all contradictions develop into confrontation. They talk about it only under conditions of active confrontation and open struggle.

Participants in social conflict

First of all, these are people standing on both sides of the barricades. In the course of the current situation, they can be both individuals and legal entities. The peculiarities of social conflict are that it is based on certain disagreements, because of which the interests of the participants collide. There is also an object that can have a material, spiritual or social form and which each of the participants seeks to obtain. And their immediate environment is the micro or macro environment.

Social conflict - pros and cons

On the one hand, an open clash allows society to evolve, to achieve certain agreements and understandings. As a result, its individual members learn to adapt to unfamiliar conditions, to take into account the desires of other individuals. On the other hand, modern social conflicts and their consequences cannot be predicted. In the case of the most difficult development of events, society can completely collapse.

Functions of social conflict

The former are constructive, while the latter are destructive. Constructive wear positive character- defuse tension, carry out changes in society, etc. Destructive ones bring destruction and chaos, they destabilize relations in a certain environment, destroy the social community. The positive function of social conflict is to strengthen the society as a whole and the relations between its members. Negative - destabilizes society.

Stages of social conflict

The stages of conflict development are:

1. Hidden. Tension in communication between subjects is growing due to the desire of each to improve their position and achieve superiority.
2. Voltage. The main stages of social conflict include tension. Moreover, the greater the power and superiority of the dominant side, the stronger it is. The irreconcilability of the parties leads to a very strong confrontation.
3. Antagonism. This is a consequence of high tension.
4. Incompatibility. Actually, the opposition itself.
5. Completion. Resolution of the situation.

Types of social conflicts

They can be labor, economic, political, education, social security etc. As already mentioned, there may be between individuals and within everyone. Here is a common classification:

1. In accordance with the source of occurrence - a confrontation of values, interests and identification.
2. According to the consequences for society, the main types of social conflicts are divided into constructive and destructive, successful and unsuccessful.
3. According to the degree of impact on the environment - short-term, medium-term, long-term, acute, large-scale, regional, local, etc.
4. In accordance with the location of opponents - horizontal and vertical. In the first case, people who are on the same level are arguing, and in the second, the boss and the subordinate.
5. According to the method of struggle - peaceful and armed.
6. Depending on the degree of openness - hidden and open. In the first case, the rivals influence each other by indirect methods, and in the second they move on to open quarrels and disputes.
7. In accordance with the composition of the participants - organizational, group, political.

Ways to resolve social conflicts

Most effective ways conflict resolution:

1. avoidance of confrontation. That is, one of the participants leaves the "stage" physically or psychologically, but the conflict situation itself remains, since the cause that gave rise to it has not been eliminated.
2. Negotiation. Both sides are trying to find common ground and a path to cooperation.
3. Intermediaries. include the use of intermediaries. His role can be played by both an organization and an individual who, thanks to the available opportunities and experience, does what would be impossible to do without his participation.
4. postponing. In fact, one of the opponents is only temporarily losing ground, wanting to accumulate strength and re-enter the social conflict, trying to regain what was lost.
5. Appeal to arbitration or arbitration court. At the same time, the confrontation is dealt with in accordance with the norms of law and law.
6. Force method with the involvement of the military, equipment and weapons, that is, in fact, war.

What are the consequences of social conflicts?

Scientists consider this phenomenon from a functionalist and sociological point of view. In the first case, the confrontation is clearly negative character and leads to such consequences as:

1. Destabilization of society. The levers of control no longer work, chaos and unpredictability reign in society.
2. The consequences of social conflict also include participants in certain goals, which are to defeat the enemy. At the same time, all other problems fade into the background.
3. Loss of hope for further friendly relations with the opponent.
4. Participants in the confrontation are removed from society, they feel dissatisfied, and so on.
5. Those who consider confrontation from a sociological point of view believe that this phenomenon also has positive sides:
6. With an interest in a positive outcome of the case, people are united and mutual understanding is strengthened between them. Everyone feels his involvement in what is happening, and does everything so that the social conflict has a peaceful outcome.
7. Existing structures and institutions are being updated and new ones are being formed. In the newly emerged groups, a certain balance of interests is created, which guarantees relative stability.
8. Managed conflict additionally stimulates the participants. They develop new ideas and solutions, that is, they “grow” and develop.

Social conflict is a necessary condition for the development of society, the result of the incompatibility of the views of individuals. Conflict allows you to expose and resolve various problems society, or reduce it to anarchy.

The heterogeneity of society, differences in position and well-being inevitably lead to the emergence and aggravation of social conflicts. Let us consider the basic concepts, essence and causes of social conflicts in more detail.

What it is

Social conflict is the result of the development of social contradictions, expressed in the confrontation of various social groups.

Such confrontation can arise in any social group. It can be called one of necessary conditions development of society. After all, this process consists of conflicts and their overcoming.

The main source of social conflict is the very structure of society. The more complex it is, the more fragmented society is. New groups and social strata are emerging that have their own value systems, goals and methods for achieving them. All this leads to new conflicts.

At the same time, the complex structure of society offers numerous ways to resolve these conflicts, mechanisms for finding consensus. The main task of society is to minimize possible Negative consequences social conflict and resolve the accumulated problems.

The life cycle of social conflict includes four stages:

1. pre-conflict situation. Its sign is the growth of tension in relations between the subjects.
2. Conflict.
3. Attempts to resolve the conflict.
4. The end of the confrontation and the post-conflict stage.

Essence and theory

The problem of social conflicts dates back many millennia. However, before Adam Smith, the whole problem was that some should rule, others should obey, and the state should manage.

Adam Smith was the first to point out the nature of conflict as a social problem. In his opinion, the social conflict is based on the class and economic struggle.

Since then, many theories have emerged to explain the essence of the contradictions:

1. According to adherents of socio-biological theory, the conflict nature of a person is explained by the aggression inherent in all animals.
2. Proponents of socio-psychological theory associate the emergence of social conflicts with overpopulation and other environmental factors. However, this theory does not explain at what point explicit conflict occurs.
3. According to functionalists, social conflict is a dysfunction in relation to society. At ideal system there should be no contradictions.

Causes of social conflict

At the heart of every conflict there are many obvious and hidden reasons. The main social prerequisites for contradictions are social inequality (there are always rich and poor, bosses and subordinates) and cultural heterogeneity (existence in society of different value orientations, behavioral systems, etc.).

There are many reasons why social conflicts arise. Consider the main ones:

1. ideological reasons. There is a certain system of ideas and values ​​that determines dominance and subordination. Participants may have different views on this system.
2. Various value orientations. Each participant in the conflict, whether an individual or a social group, has its own set of value orientations. Each set is strictly individual, and often opposite to the same set of another participant. Final goal– Satisfaction of own needs – many participants have one. As a result, there is an interaction of opposing interests (everyone wants to satisfy their own needs) and a conflict arises.
3. Social and economic reasons. Associated with the distribution of wealth and power, if one of the participants seems to have been cheated. This is one of the most common causes of social conflict.
4. Other reasons: the difference in tasks, the introduction of innovations, rivalry between groups and leaders.

Structure

The conflict is a multidimensional process with a developed structure. Each specific conflict situation has its own objective and subjective components.

They can be considered in more detail, starting with the objective ones:

1. Subjects of the conflict. Every social conflict is, first of all, the inability to reach mutual understanding between specific people. This is true for interstate conflict as well as for family conflict. In each case, the main characters- people acting, depending on the situation, as individuals or legal entities.
2. Item. This is the contradiction that lies at the heart of a particular conflict, because of which there is a clash of interests of the participants.
3. An object. This is a certain value that all subjects strive to receive. The form can be any: material (money or other resource), spiritual (any idea), social (power). In each case, it is not easy to single out the object of conflict. It is not always found in its pure form, it is often a mixture of at least two forms.
4. Micro environment and macro environment. These are the conditions under which the parties have to act. The microenvironment is the immediate environment of the participants. The macroenvironment is belonging to certain social groups.

In each separate conflict there are also subjective components. This is the tactics and strategy of behavior of each side, the perception of a certain situation, etc.

Types and classification

Various sociological schools put forward their own classifications of conflicts. The most common typology is:

1. For reasons of occurrence. The reasons can be both objective and subjective.
2. According to the peculiarities of social differences. Such conflicts differ in the time of action and the nature of disagreements, the sphere of manifestation, etc.
3. The impact of conflict on others. Forms of conflicts differ in duration (short-term, medium-term, long-term), severity, scale.
4. According to the characteristics of specific participants. The conflict can be collective, inter-ethnic, etc.
5. Based on openness there are hidden and open social conflicts. Hidden conflicts do not entail external aggression in relation to the opponent and are held using indirect methods of influence. In open conflicts, there are obvious clashes - quarrels, disputes.
6. The most well-known division of conflicts into horizontal and vertical. This division occurs based on the position of the opponents. Vertical conflict happens between the boss and subordinates, horizontal - between people who are on the same level. First of all, these are labor disputes.
7. Based on the composition of the participants, share interpersonal types of conflicts, group, organizational, political, etc. In interpersonal conflicts, confrontation takes place between people who do not belong to any social community. In group - between separate social groups. Political conflicts can arise both within society (domestic political) and at the international level (foreign political).

It is worth considering that any attempt to classify conflicts is rather conditional. In practice, one can meet, for example, a vertical closed interpersonal conflict with a unique set of properties.

Role and functions

IN public life social conflict plays a twofold role. On the one hand, thanks to the conflict, society develops, certain agreements and agreements are reached. On the other hand, the consequences of an open conflict for society are unpredictable.

The conflict has many private functions. Through the adaptive function, individuals adapt to new circumstances. Thanks to the innovative feature, the awareness of the participants about the pros and cons of each other is increased.

In general, the functions of social conflict can be divided into two large groups:

1. constructive. They include positive functions: defusing tension, carrying out social changes, etc.
2. destructive. This includes functions that are negative in nature: the destabilization of relations that have developed in a certain social environment, the destruction of the social community.

Consequences

The consequences of conflict can be viewed from two opposing points of view:

1. Functionalist.
2. Sociological.

Functionalists view conflict as a negative phenomenon that destabilizes society. They highlight the following possible consequences:

1. destabilization of society. The emergence of chaotic processes with unpredictable results. Control mechanisms stop working.
2. Distracting the participants in the conflict from other problems, focusing on certain interests and defeating the enemy.
3. Impossibility of further cooperation with the opponent.
4. The removal of participants in the conflict from society, dissatisfaction, etc.

Adherents of the sociological point of view, for example, Dahrendorf, believe that, under certain conditions, positive results can be achieved. Positive consequences include:

1. Resolving a problem in an optimal way that all stakeholders can accept. This will bring people together and strengthen their mutual understanding. If each participant feels that he is involved in solving the problem, he will participate in the implementation of this solution.
2. Renovation of existing and creation of new mechanisms and institutions. New social groups are formed, a certain balance of interests is observed. This provides relative stability.
3. Additional incentives for participants. Managed conflict between people leads to the development of new ideas and solutions. Without participating in conflicts, a person ceases to develop.

Resolution paths

To analyze the ways of resolving social conflicts, you need to understand how the participants in the conflict behave. The strategy for resolving social conflict depends on their characteristics.

• Evasion– the participant has no desire to conflict, actively work to achieve their own goals. Such a participant may himself withdraw from the conflict.
• fixture. Participants are ready to cooperate, meet the other side halfway and at the same time work on their own interests.
• Confrontation. The interests of other parties are not taken into account, each participant seeks only to achieve his own goals and impose his opinion on others.
• Cooperation. Each participant works on the implementation of their interests. However, he is ready to work on finding a solution to the conflict in a team with other participants.
• Compromise. This style is based on concessions. Each participant is limited to the partial achievement of their goals and is inferior to the others in some way. This style is preferable to the rest, because. allows partially satisfying the desires of all interested parties.

The result of the conflict can be a complete or partial solution. The first option means the complete elimination of the causes of the conflict. In the second case, only part of the problems is solved, the rest may appear later.

Examples in society from history

A classic example of social conflict is the student strike in France in 1968. The reasons are the discrepancy between the values ​​of the students of the sixties and the old French general de Gaulle.

Another reason is the "Fouche reform", which consisted in the accelerated training of specialists without eliminating shortcomings in educational system. The students were followed by mass strikes of workers, employees and engineers.

Ultimately, the president achieved a partial resolution of the conflict, using the population's fear of another revolution. But a year later he resigned.

Video: Social conflict and ways to solve it

social conflict- this is the highest stage of the development of contradictions in relations between people, social groups, society as a whole, which is characterized by a clash of oppositely directed interests, goals, positions of the subjects of interaction. Conflicts may be covert or overt, but they are always based on a lack of agreement between two or more parties. 1

Structure of social conflict

The participants in the conflict are called the subjects of the conflict. Among them are the following:

• parties to the conflict - direct participants in the conflict interaction;
• accomplices - persons who directly contributed to the conflict; these are the ones who started the conflict;
• instigators - persons pushing any side to the conflict;
• witnesses - persons who observe the conflict from the outside and do not directly intervene in it;
• mediators - people who by their actions try to prevent, stop or mitigate the intensity of the conflict.

The participants in the conflict may not be in direct confrontation, but they influence the course of the conflict. The good, the subject, the problem, the question about which the conflict flares up, is called the subject of the conflict. It should not be confused with the cause of the conflict - the objective circumstances that predetermine the emergence of the conflict. The reason for the conflict is some often even insignificant event, a fleeting fact that predetermines the conflict. Example: two friends began to conflict because of the problem of holding the evening - this is the subject of the conflict. The cause of the conflict was disagreement - go to the cinema or stay at one of your friends' houses and play computer games. And the reason for the conflict could be the sharp phrase of one of the friends, who said that he did not care about the opinion of a friend. 2

Of great importance for the sociological analysis of social conflicts is the identification of the main types. There are the following types of conflicts:

By the number of participants in the conflict interaction:

• intrapersonal - the state of dissatisfaction of a person with any circumstances of his life, which are associated with the presence of conflicting needs, interests. aspirations and can cause affects;
• interpersonal - disagreement between two or more members of one group or several groups;
• intergroup - occur between social groups that pursue incompatible goals and interfere with each other with their practical actions;

According to the direction of conflict interaction:

• horizontal - between people who are not subordinate to each other;
• vertical - between people who are subordinate to each other;
• mixed - in which both those and others are represented. The most common are vertical and mixed conflicts, averaging 70-80% of all conflicts;

By origin:

• objectively determined - caused by objective reasons, which can be eliminated only by changing the objective situation;
• subjectively conditioned - associated with the personal characteristics of conflicting people, as well as with situations that create barriers to satisfying their desires, aspirations, interests;

According to their functions:

• creative (integrative) - contributing to renewal, the introduction of new structures, policies, leadership;
• destructive (disintegrative) - destabilizing social systems;

According to duration:

• short-term - caused by mutual misunderstanding or mistakes of the parties, which are quickly realized;
• protracted - associated with deep moral and psychological trauma or with objective difficulties. The duration of the conflict depends both on the subject of the contradiction and on the character traits of the people involved;

According to its internal content:

• rational - covering the sphere of reasonable, business rivalry, redistribution of resources;
• emotional - in which participants act on the basis of personal hostility;

According to the ways and means of resolving conflicts, there are:

• peaceful
• armed.

By taking into account the content of the problems that caused conflict actions, they distinguish:

• economic,
• political,
• family household,
• production,
• spiritual and moral,
• legal,
• environmental,
• ideological and other conflicts.

The analysis of the course of the conflict is carried out in accordance with its three main stages: pre-conflict situation, the conflict itself and the resolution stage.

Pre-conflict situation- this is the period when the conflicting parties evaluate their resources, forces and consolidate into opposing groups. At the same stage, each of the parties forms its own strategy of behavior and chooses a way to influence the enemy.

Direct conflict- this is the active part of the conflict, characterized by the presence of an incident, i.e. social actions aimed at changing the opponent's behavior.

The actions themselves are of two types:

• actions of opponents that are open in nature (verbal debate, physical impact, economic sanctions, etc.);
• hidden actions of rivals (associated with the desire to deceive, confuse the opponent, impose on him an unfavorable course of action).

The main course of action for covert internal conflict is reflexive control, meaning that one of the opponents, through "deceptive movements", is trying to get the other person to act in this way. how beneficial to him.

Conflict resolution is possible only when the conflict situation is eliminated, and not only when the incident is exhausted. The resolution of the conflict can also occur as a result of the depletion of the resources of the parties or the intervention of a third party, creating an advantage for one of the parties, and, finally, as a result of the complete exhaustion of the opponent.

Successful conflict resolution requires the following conditions:

• timely determination of the causes of the conflict;
• definition of the business zone of the conflict - the causes, contradictions, interests, goals of the conflicting parties:
• mutual desire of the parties to overcome contradictions;
• joint search for ways to overcome the conflict.

Exist various methods conflict resolution:

• conflict avoidance - leaving the "scene" of conflict interaction physically or psychologically, but the conflict itself is not eliminated in this case, since the cause that gave rise to it remains;
• negotiations - avoid the use of violence, achieve mutual understanding and find a way to cooperate;
• the use of intermediaries is a conciliatory procedure. An experienced mediator, which can be an organization and an individual, will help to quickly resolve the conflict there. where without his participation it would not have been possible;
• postponing - in fact, this is the surrender of its position, but only temporary, since as the forces accumulate, the side will most likely try to return what was lost;
• arbitration, or arbitration, is a method in which the norms of laws and law are strictly guided.

The consequences of conflict can be:

positive:

• resolution of accumulated contradictions;
• stimulation of the process of social change;
• convergence of conflicting groups;
• strengthening the cohesion of each of the rival camps;

negative:

• tension;
• destabilization;
• disintegration.

Conflict resolution can be:

• complete - the conflict ends completely;
• partial - the conflict changes the external form, but retains motivation.

Of course, it is difficult to foresee all the variety of conflict situations that life creates for us. Therefore, in resolving conflicts, much should be decided on the spot based on the specific situation, as well as the individual psychological characteristics of the participants in the conflict.

Lecture:

social conflict

Despite the fact that conflicts leave unpleasant memories, it is completely impossible to avoid them, because this is one of the ways people interact. In the process of his life, a person finds himself in various conflict situations that arise even for a minor reason.

social conflict is the way social interaction, which consists in the clash and confrontation of opposing interests, goals and methods of action individuals or groups.

According to their attitude to the conflict, people were divided into two groups. Some perceive it as stress and seek to eliminate the causes of the conflict. Others consider it a natural and inevitable form of human relations and are convinced that a person should be able to be in it without experiencing excessive tension and excitement.

The subjects of the conflict are not only the warring parties themselves, but also

• instigators who encourage people to conflict,
• accomplices, pushing participants with their advice, technical assistance to conflict actions,
• mediators seeking to prevent, stop or resolve conflict,

witnesses watching events from the sidelines.

Consequences of social conflict

Despite the undesirability of conflicts, they still perform the functions necessary for society. Social conflicts are positive If

• inform about the pain of any part public system about the existence of social tension and mobilize to solve existing problems;
• stimulate changes and renewal of social relations, social institutions or the entire social system as a whole;
• strengthen group cohesion or encourage actors in the conflict to cooperate.

negative parties to the conflict are

creation of stressful situations;

destabilization of social life;

distraction from the solution of their official tasks.

Stages of social conflict

In its development, social conflict goes through four stages or stages:

The conflict starts with pre-conflict situation consisting of two phases. In the latent (latent) phase, the conflict situation is just being formed, and in the open phase, the parties are aware of the emergence of a conflict situation and feel tension.

The next step is actual conflict . This is the main stage of the conflict, which also consists of two phases. In the first phase, the parties develop a psychological attitude to fight, they openly defend their rightness and seek to suppress the enemy. And the surrounding people (instigators, accomplices, mediators, witnesses) by their actions form the conditions for the course of the conflict. They can escalate, contain conflict, or remain neutral. In the second phase, there is a turning point and a reassessment of values. At this phase, there are several options for the behavior of the parties to the conflict: bringing it to the peak of tension, mutual concessions, or complete resolution.

The choice of the third variant of behavior indicates the transition of the conflict to completion stage confrontation.

Post-conflict stage characterized by the final settlement of contradictions and the peaceful interaction of the parties to the conflict.

What are the ways to resolve the conflict? There are several of them:

• Avoidance avoidance of conflict, hushing up the problem ( this way does not resolve the conflict, but only temporarily softens or delays it).

• Compromise- problem solving through mutual concessions satisfying all opposing sides.

• Negotiation- peaceful exchange of proposals, opinions, arguments aimed at finding a joint solution to an existing problem.

• Mediation- involvement of a third party to resolve the conflict.

• Arbitration- an appeal to an authoritative authority endowed with special powers and complying with legislative norms (for example, the administration of an institution, a court).