Types of social conflicts: causes of occurrence and stages of development

Social conflict

(Latin conflictus - clash) is the highest stage of development of contradictions in relations between people, social groups, society as a whole, which is characterized by a clash of opposing interests, goals, positions of the subjects of interaction.
Conflicts can be hidden or overt, but they are always based on a lack of agreement between two or more parties. In the field of scientific knowledge, there is a separate science [ source not specified 1844 days
] dedicated to conflicts - conflictology.

Conflict is a collision of opposing goals, positions, and subjects of interaction. At the same time, conflict is the most important aspect of interaction between people in society, a kind of cell of social existence. This is a form of relationship between potential or actual subjects of social action, the motivation of which is determined by opposing values and norms, interests and needs. An essential aspect of social conflict is that these subjects act within the framework of some broader system of connections, which is modified (strengthened or destroyed) under the influence of the conflict. If interests are multidirectional and opposite, then their opposition will be revealed in a mass of very different assessments; they themselves will find a “field of collision” for themselves, and the degree of rationality of the claims put forward will be very conditional and limited.

The meaning of social conflict

Conflicts can be hidden or overt, occurring between individuals or groups of individuals. One of the most striking examples of a global social clash is the incident of the Second World War.

Scientists are sure that not a day goes by without people clashing in disputes. Somewhere, family, professional and other clashes occur.

Resolution of social conflict occurs by analyzing contradictions in interests, thoughts, and lifestyle. The essence of conflicts lies in the presence of negative emotions, as a result of which behavior may go beyond morality and ethics. Briefly expressed, conflict is the highest stage of confrontation between people.

Attention! Reasons for social Conflicts are destructive forms of interaction and contain their own positive and negative sides. From one perspective, conflict can serve for good, but from another, it can have a negative impact. Disputes among colleagues can expose professional problems, subsequently speeding up the resolution process.

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Objective causes of social conflicts

Definition 2

The objective causes of social conflicts are the causes of social confrontation that are outside the conscious and volitional sphere of individual individuals and the social groups, communities and institutions consisting of them.

Thus, in modern literature devoted to the study of problems in the theory of social conflict, among the most common objective causes of social conflicts, it is customary to highlight:

Disorganization of society is a situation in which traditional spheres of public life, including production, economics, political and ideological institutions, etc. find themselves outside of existing social norms (for example, as a result of sudden revolutionary changes or deep crisis processes), which turns out to be threatening to the interests of individuals, social groups or public organizations;
Objective inequality of opportunities for social actors in everyday life, economics, politics and other areas significant for the life of individuals and society. First of all, the indicated inequality manifests itself in relation to the different access of social actors to resources, statuses and other values;
The phenomenon of deprivation, that is, the contradiction between the expectations and ideas of the subject and his objective position in the social hierarchy. At the same time, the corresponding deprivation is not static and can increase or decrease due to changes in the interests of subjects, partial satisfaction of existing needs, etc.

Participants in social clashes

In collisions, the main problem is considered to be human confrontation, so different people become participants. The most common type of conflict is interpersonal, where two people are involved.

Although the essence lies in the contradictions of two subjects, third parties can also take part in it. Consequently, the scale expands to a group scale. As an example, I will give a situation where two competing florists argued that their flowers were fresher and better and the delivery routes were shorter. Afterwards, the authorities stood up for each of them, as a result of which the disputes began to scale.

Sociology claims that the duration of a conflict situation has no effect on the number of participants. Even a minute dispute has its participants:

Passers-by watching the altercation.
Instigators who incite controversy.
Accomplices contributing to the occurrence of a collision.
Mediators trying to resolve the current situation.

Types of conflicts in society

Determining the types of social conflicts is of great importance for a thorough study of emerging disagreements in society. Classification by types of social conflicts has many branches:

According to the number of participants in the conflict process: intrapersonal - a person’s dissatisfaction with the current situation in life due to the presence of conflicting desires and goals; interpersonal - a clash between members of a social group; intergroup - confrontation between different groups with divergent aspirations.
Classification by focus: horizontal - between subjects equal in profession status; vertical - when one of the parties is subordinate to the other; mixed - personalities with different levels of professional influence are represented.
Depending on the source of origin, conflicts are: objectively caused - the conflict is generated by global causes; subjective - the dispute is caused by differences in individual desires and interests of individuals.
Typology by function: creative - launch progressive processes in society, the emergence of new useful structures; destructive - undermine the stability of social systems.
By content: emotional - the trigger for the conflict between the parties is personal hostility; rational - competition at the business level, struggle for ownership of resources.
By duration: short-term - arise due to temporary misunderstandings or accidental mistakes that are soon recognized; protracted - aggravated by significant difficulties, associated with severe psychological or moral trauma.
According to methods of resolving confrontation: armed and peaceful.
By area (content): economic, labor, political, educational, everyday, ideological and others.

Thus, social conflict is a very extensive and multifaceted phenomenon. Sometimes it consists of a verbal skirmish between fans of different football teams, or is represented by an official proceeding between subordinates and their boss, and sometimes it is of a more global nature - unrest, riot, war.

Types of social conflicts

At the moment there is no consensus on social conflict. The variety is determined from the basis: the method of resolution, the sphere of manifestation, and others. For example, if the main feature is a personal characteristic, then interpersonal conflict stands out.

Currently, the emphasis is on behavioral style, which provides a classification:

When starting a fight where achievements and recognition in society are at stake, rivalry arises.
During passive confrontation between groups with different interests, confrontation will appear.
Competition is considered a separate type, where the goal is to obtain wealth and obtain scarce goods.

Important! The types of social conflicts do not matter, because the process continues until the result is obtained, with the cause being eliminated.

Subjective causes of social conflicts

Definition 1
The causes of social conflicts are a set of objective and subjective factors that precede the social conflict in time and are in direct cause-and-effect relationship with it, that is, causing the emergence of a social conflict.

When characterizing the causes of social conflicts in the specialized literature, it is noted that in general terms, the corresponding causes are usually divided into subjective and objective.

Thus, the first of the above groups - the subjective causes of social conflicts - are made up of certain properties of the psyche, character, worldview traits, and level of intelligence of the subjects of society. In practice, including in relation to large social groups, the corresponding characteristics manifest themselves in certain feelings, interests and beliefs that encourage social actors to act in a certain way, leading to the emergence of a conflict situation, an increase in social tension, and, finally, to the beginning of open social conflict.

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In more detail, the corresponding subjective causes of social conflicts can be defined as follows:

Feelings are the psychological states of a social subject within which emotions and goals are fused together as motivation for social actions;
Goals are a social subject’s idea of the result that can and should be achieved as a result of performing certain actions. In other words, the goal of behavior as the cause of social conflict reflects the reason for which certain actions are performed;
Beliefs are a set of ideological and psychological components, including knowledge about any phenomenon or object, which is true in the opinion of the corresponding person, which can be reasonably argued by him, as well as causing positive emotions in such a person or social group. As a result, the beliefs of social actors can become a cause of social conflict due to the fact that they often act as a guide to making certain decisions or taking actions.

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To summarize what has been said, we note that the subjective causes of social conflicts most often become contradictions between the interests and beliefs of people and social norms accepted in society, contradictions between the homogeneous interests of various subjects, which prevents them from unconditionally taking possession of certain objects of conflict, and, finally, contradictions between different interests of different subjects, which cannot be resolved through compromise, which is why the corresponding contradictions develop into open conflict.

Stages of development

Conflicts do not break out out of nowhere, but pass through stages. Examples of stages would be certain events in a team:

Hidden stage of pre-conflict, awareness of the existence of tension. An example would be a negative statement from one person to another. From his statement, discussions of the brewing scandal arise, but they do not enter into open interaction.
The flare-up of a conflict at the extreme tension of an incident. It is not possible to avoid the situation, people become hostile, and open confrontation occurs. Additional people begin to take part in the conflict, which is considered a critical stage of the conflict and requires active measures.
The completion stage is the cessation of the incident, where the contradictions between the participants are eliminated.

Alternative approaches to defining the concept of “social conflict”

As noted above, the most common definition in the specialized literature is the definition of social conflict as a consequence of social contradiction, expressed in open, mutual opposition of social actors with divergent interests.

However, an analysis of specialized literature indicates that the indicated approach is not the only one in social conflictology. So, in particular, the concept being studied is also defined as follows:

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as the maximum degree of intensity of social contradiction;
as a manifestation of the aggravation of pre-existing social contradictions, expressed in the surrounding reality as an open clash of a number of social communities;
as a contradiction, in pursuit of the goal of resolving which, social actors enter into confrontation with each other;
from the point of view of dialectics, social conflict is defined as the struggle of opposing interests of social subjects.

Thus, we can conclude that the concept of social conflict in most cases is somehow derived from its comparison with social contradiction. In this regard, it seems appropriate to formulate a definition of social contradiction as a more general category compared to social conflict:

Definition 2

Social contradiction is a state of unity and struggle of social subjects that is naturally inherent in any social formation due to the objective existence of divergent interests, values and ideas.

We also note that among the social subjects, as necessary participants in social contradictions, and their extreme manifestation - social conflicts, there may be various communities, nations, peoples, social institutions or organizations, and even entire civilizations.

Consequences of social clashes

Positive: accumulated contradictions are resolved, processes are stimulated, teams are brought closer together, and cohesion is enhanced.
Negative: Tensions in relationships increase, the organization destabilizes, distractions from goals occur, depression manifests itself, stress increases.

Science does not agree with the statement that conflict is always evil. The modern opinion is that the type of social problems can lead to progress in the current situation. The main task is to manage the collision, extracting maximum benefit and minimizing loss.

What do you know about social clashes? Share your answer in the comments.

The concept of “social conflict” as a dynamic category

It should be noted that the above approaches to defining the concept of “social conflict” primarily consider this category in its statics, that is, through the characterization of the subject of the social conflict, its causes, subject composition, etc.

However, it is also necessary to point out that conflict, as a phenomenon of the surrounding reality, is a dynamic category that includes several stages that replace each other, including:

The stage of the emergence of a conflict (the beginning of a conflict) is the commission by one social entity (spontaneously or planned) of a certain set of actions affecting the interests of another social entity or group of entities;
The deployment stage is the commission by a social subject, whose interests were initially violated, of retaliatory actions against the political, economic or ideological values of the opposing side;
The stage of impasse, in which, due to the impossibility of ending the conflict with the victory of one of the parties, a situation arises of the impossibility of resolving the corresponding conflict, despite the fact that its parties continuously suffer moral, economic or physical losses;
The stage of completion of a social conflict, at which, based on the methods used to resolve the conflict, the following can be observed: firstly, the victory of one of the parties to the initial conflict, secondly, the victory of a third party that was not initially involved in the social conflict, but joined it in connection with the impossibility of resolving the conflict without appropriate accession; thirdly, by finding a compromise solution and reconciliation of the original participants in the social conflict.

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