People do not live in a no-man’s land or in isolation. They are members of a group and society such as a family, a cultural
community and a country. People form social networks, interacting and reacting to others. Relationships are dynamical with people’s behaviour being influenced and determined by others’ behaviour and attitudes. Hence behaviour at individual level including conflict can be conceived as the resultant of the interplay of rationality and emotionality.
According to the social conflict theorists, conflicts and struggles are basic components of human nature fueled by competition for scarce resources. They are a form of interaction of group members. Conflicts arise among in-group members and between in-group and out-group members. Therefore, it can be said that tensions and conflicts are intrinsic to human relations that occur through dialectic processes.
For example, relationships between siblings are marked by clashes resulting from competition for parents’ attention or for a commodity. Relationships between parents and children as well are marked by tensions and conflicts because of the generation gap and diverging perceptions.
While people’s behaviour tend to be motivated by individual vested interests in the pursuance of personal needs and goals, often divergences might emergence between individual and group interests that may lead to conflicts.
Freud’s psychoanalytic Theory uncovers that within each person sleeps, I quote, ‘aggressive unconscious forces that seek expression’. Conflicts are an overt expression of inner aggressiveness. While they can occur at inter-personal levels, conflicts also occur at macro-levels known as social conflicts.
At social level, conflicts are social forces resulting from dual social forces. They can either unite people against a common perceived enemy or can divide people. In instances of social conflicts, there are social forces that help society reach a state of homeostasis.Class relations exemplify these dialectic relationships.
While relationships between the working classes, the bourgeoisie and capitalist classes can be harmonious, yet, they are historically marked by class conflicts and tensions. They family as well is conceived as a, I quote, a ‘system in conflict’ with the dynamics between men and women reproducing the macro-system social dynamics and, especially, patriarchy.
The Feminist theorists studied in detail the impact of the patriarchal social dynamic on the relationships between men and women within the family. They uncovered how gender relationships are ingrained in patriarchy that underpins conflicts between men and women. They stress how the patriarchal power structure of the family is the expression of the social power structure at macro-level with power remaining within the hands of man.
They maintain that one causal factor for violence against women is the abuse of power. In other words, power is a source of conflict. Another causal factor is the unequal distribution of social resources such as wealth, salaries and social benefits between men and women.
To conclude, for Darwin (1958) conflicts as social dynamics promote social existence ensuring survival of the strongest and fittest and for Spencer (1898) they are inherent social processes that contribute to social evolution and advancement. For them, these social dynamics contribute to maintain a social equilibrium.
