When talking about conflict, we find a very extensive bibliography on the subject,
What is conflict?
From a deep investigation and analysis, it can be deduced that conflict is an antagonistic, interactional process composed of two or more social actors, which develops within a cultural, temporal, and historical context, and which is complexly constructed by the parties. That is, conflict is born, develops, transforms, and ends or remains latent over time by one of the actors or all those involved. Habitually, antagonistic interaction predominates through actions, thoughts, affections, or discourses and can be led by the parties themselves or by third parties.
Elements that make up a conflict
As Lederech states in his analysis regarding the elements of conflict, a conflict is composed of people, processes, and problems. The people who make up the conflict, whether as protagonists or secondary social actors or others, understanding that each of those involved plays a role that will influence decision-making and how the conflict will develop. In relation to the type of conflict, it is worth mentioning that conflicts can occur not only with another actor but also in an interpersonal way through the psychological aspects of the human being such as emotions, feelings, ideologies, wills, among others.
Types
On the other hand, there are other types of conflicts, those that we usually observe in our lives or in the lives of others; these are those that occur between two or more subjects, called interpersonal conflicts, such as at a family level, husband-wife, parents-children, employer-employee, in short, roles according to people’s daily situations. Those conflicts that occur on a larger scale and involve people from the same participation group, Lederech calls them intragroup conflicts, that is, societies, corporations, institutions, cycles, departments of…, organizations and/or extended families that present internal conflicts. Finally, when conflicts leave the belonging groups and conflicts are created with other social groups, they are called intergroup conflicts.
Another element related to people as elements of conflict is the position that the subject occupies within the conflict, understood as who wins or who loses in relation to the interests and needs that are present, as well as the power that this actor develops within the process and the influence they exert on other actors or even on the mediator themselves.
Both the perceptions, emotions/feelings, and values that people carry with them will give the problem substance, since the understanding of what happens according to the vision will be decisive for decision-making, in the same way, the mood and the values that this person adopts from their family ideological culture.
Processes within a conflict
In relation to the conflict process, some elements such as the dynamic that exists between the actors are fundamental to identify whether this dynamic is latent by one of the parties or adversarial, where the parties are completely polarized. With this, the relationship between the parties is added, considering that for those subjects who have had a close relationship, the conflict could be more manageable towards its end, while for those who have had a poor and deteriorated relationship, it could be more complex to reach a resolution. Communication as an element of the process will in turn be influenced by several factors such as equality of role, stereotypes, and prejudices that may have previously existed and that, without a doubt, could positively or negatively affect or alter the resolution of the problem.
The third constituent element of a conflict is related to the problem, and the elements covered by the concept are the core, understanding what has occurred between the parties involved in the conflict, the type of conflict, whether it is due to the relationship/communication that occurs between the subjects; interests/needs; conflicts over resources, activities, or lifestyle preferences at an ideological, value, and cultural level.
The vision
The vision of a conflict can be functional or dysfunctional depending on the approach. In the first term (functional), we speak of a conflict when something happens and needs to be addressed; while when there is a dysfunctional approach to conflict, the vision could be influenced by some elements such as those mentioned by Deutsch 1973 and others (Hockery Wilmat in 1985), some of which are: the competitive processes of the parties and the objectives that each of them possesses; biases and distorted perceptions of reality; the emotionality that each subject brings into the conflict process; the decrease in communication with antagonistic actors and the increase in communication with their allies. On the other hand, other elements, such as the blurring of problems, rigid commitments (clinging to one’s own ideas), the exaggeration of differences and minimizing similarities, as well as the escalation of conflict, would also affect visualizing the conflict from a negativistic and destructive perspective.
Approximation styles
For José María Puig, there are five basic styles of approaching conflict, which I consider a great contribution. They are:
1. Competition
2. Accommodation.
3. Avoidance.
4. Compromise.
5. Cooperation or collaboration.
In the first style, the objective of one of the participating actors in the conflict, who fully attempts to win, impose, and dominate the problem, is fundamentally important.
In the second style, accommodation, the subject submits and accepts the decision of the rest, joins the agreement, and recognizes errors, giving up.
The third style, avoidance, the person tends to avoid, withdraws, and diverts attention, allowing the opponent to do what is necessary to achieve their objective.
In the fourth style, compromise, the idea is that both people manage to achieve their objectives at a cost to both, that is, both gain something, both lose something.
Finally, the fifth style is cooperation and/or collaboration, which mainly aims for both subjects or sides to win and achieve their objectives. They try to satisfy both needs under a rational and respectful act with the aim of solving and cooperating with the problem.
The problem itself presents certain parameters for regulation, starting with understanding it. The subject’s history defines the conflict at a certain point; the events the person has experienced, their behaviors, and perceptions will directly influence decision-making within the conflict. Escalation intensity is another element of the conflict parameters, meaning it is the tension or intensity that occurs between the parties during conflicts, and triggers (events that lead to the outcome), with the latter being directly the cause of the discrepancy among the actors, and finally, the actors who accompany the main actors collaborate in the escalation or de-escalation of such conflict.
Dynamics
When we talk about understanding the dynamics of conflict, this will depend on intensification or escalation (selective perception – composed of: selective evaluation of behavior; reactive devaluation; search for confirmatory evidence and attributional distortion – the self-fulfilling prophecy as Robert Merton called it in 1948, entrapment and stagnation); stagnation and de-escalation that will lead to three possible outcomes: the first, related to the failure of competitive tactics, the second, exhaustion of necessary resources, and the third, loss of social support and the unacceptability of costs.
All the elements considered in this study undoubtedly highlight the imperative need of human beings to seek the satisfaction of their needs, interests, and motivations; the ways in which the history of conflict develops will largely depend on the subject’s vision and perception in the face of certain stimuli and/or motivations found within the closest environment, as well as those social, cultural, psychological; biological and ideological factors that have been carried out throughout the person’s life journey.
In the second part of this topic, the issue of coexistence in educational centers will be addressed, to conclude with a third part related to mediation processes.