SOCB43H3 Lecture 10: SOC B43 Lecture 10.docx
Document Summary
He wasn"t interested in why conflict occurred, doesn"t think conflict necessarily will break things apart, or make people fall apart. He thought there were two sides to everything. Being in conflict with someone is being in a kind of relationship with them you are not in an indifferent relationship with them. You care about them, which is why you"re fighting with them. Groups have conflictual elements that pull it together and pull it apart: conflict and integration. It can have a positive or negative function. He says every social unit has both conflictuous and harmonious elements. Often conflicts and competitions hold people together, and make people drawn to it. Marriage we have an image that in an ideal marriage, people never fight. It is healthy to fight in a marriage. Workplace too: two levels of unity, unity as opposite to conflict, unity that includes both. Life death, or life as a process including both life and death.
