Conflict Theory

Coleman and Straus

Egalitarian relationships are less likely to have violence than those with unequal power.

Johnson and Ferraro

Within the couple we must now distinguish between common couple violence, intimate terrorism, and violent resistance

conflict management

a means to prevent conflict from escalating

BA: Conflict can be classified.

a) Macro social perspective: issues of conflict between classes of people who have privilege or dominance and the disadvantaged. Conflict theorists help to reconstruct and analyze the ways in which our society ascribes value and how this leads to inequality in the family. b) Micro social perspective: look within the family system at elements that can bring about conflict Two major structural distinctions in families are gender and age.

power

ability to control the direction or course of action of others, whether it be a group or individuals; it can be taken over by a personality or temperament of that person

George Simmel

added love, ownership, valuing, and jealousy to the perspective of conflict in families

What is one of the key factors in interpersonal conflicts?

communication

BA: Conflict has positive aspects.

conflict is at the root of progress and change facing conflict can bring relationships to new levels of intimacy, relieve tension and resentment, help to identify problems, increase understanding, and bring a renrewed appreciation for the relationship

Conflict theorists believe that the conflict between partners should be focused on...

conflict management, not resolution

Theorists believe that people had the ability to move into a higher social class, but only if...

conflict occurred.

Lewis Coser

conflict should solidify, unify, promote cohesion and adaptability in a group

Jetse Sprey

conflict was a part of every relationship, including those in families; distinguished conflict in families from other types of conflict due to its unique characteristics

conflict

confrontation between individuals or a group over resources

Goode

defined a negative authority as someone who could prevent someone else from doing something and indicated that this hidden power was often found in the husband's role

Various processes that correspond to divorce experience include:

emotional economic societal

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

focused on the conflict of ideas Hegelian dialect--> based on evolution of ideas an accepted idea (thesis) would eventually be challenged by its opposite (antithesis) until a stabel middle ground was reached that combined aspects of both extremes (synthesis), thus becoming the new thesis and the process happens again

consensus

groups, society, families, share common knowledge and awareness; all parties "see this the same way"

Scholars analyze abusive relationships to determine:

how and why it occurs what the predetermine factors are why people stay in abusive relationships what motivates people to leave

Developmental change focuses on...

how family dynamics changes over life course and how power differentials change as individuals age

threats

message, not behavior; punishment if the demand is not met

promise

message, not behavior; rewards when the demands are met

What is the conflict theory used to explain?

society's struggle for economic wealth, political power and social status.

The conflict theory rooted from ___.

sociology

competition

the act of competing; family members learn to cope with taking turns at winning and losing or may negotiate to jointly win or lose

negotiation and bargaining

the exchange process designed to reach a collective agreement on a disputed issue

assertion

used in verbal statements to affirm rights and positions

Blood and Wolfe

used the concept of power to understand decision making between husbands and wives

Claes and Rosenthal; Sagrestano, Heavey, Christensen

violence is greater in couples when the women's economic, educational and occupational status is higher than the man's

Karl Marx

"father of conflict theory" focused on pragmatic issues--> economic well being of individuals in society (have vs. have nots) studied social change throughout history and proposed that it followed a dialectical form envisioned the laborers (proletariats) uniting to overthrow the land owners and industrialists (bourgeoisie) to obtain equal access to resources--> Communist Manifesto

Cromwell and Olsen

3 types of power: power bases- what we bring into the relationship power processes- the techniques we use to gain control in the relationship power outcomes- the final decision these components have been used to measure or evaluate many of the family dynamics and decision making.

Critique of conflict theory

Analyzes families in destructive, negative terms most family theorists prefer positive terms does not propose how families can improve raises awareness of the situations many families face acknowledges the elements brought into the family from internal and external forces

BA: The nature of humans is that they are self-oriented.

Ascribe value to things that lead to competition. Unlimited potential to hope leads to desire for power and privilege.

Alberts

Avoiding is not always negative; it an be used to postpone discussions until the right time.

BA: Conflict is a confrontation over control of scarce resources.

Internal conflict & external conflict One cannot deal with internal conflict while also using energy to fight external conflict. Conflict can produce new or different values and revitalize existing norms.

BA: Group dynamics are different in families than in other groups.

Recognize differences between groups and families. group membership- voluntary family membership- involuntary Families usually generate a higher level of conflicts than groups.

BA: Societies operate under a perpetual scarcity of resources.

Societies represent organized systems for species survival. Scarcity of resources leads to competition, conflict theorists state these contronations lead to social growth and change.

Claes and Rosenthal

The severity of abuse toward females is dependent on the abuser's perception of her power.

demanders

people that have a high tolerance for conflict and use power to escalate conflict

avoiders

people who evade conflict

aggression

psychological and physical overpowering of others

conflict resolution

refers to both the end state of conflict and the process of a given conflicts ending; in resolution here is no more competition and both parties focus on their goals together