Marital conflict

During 1968, a centre for the treatment of autistic children was established in Perth, Western Australia, under the administration of the Mental Health Services. It was named in honour of Dr. Mildred Creak, whose authoritative contribution to the study of autism and her invaluable assistance in establishing this centre is thereby recognized.     

Media in conflict or conflict in media: examining media coverage of conflict in Northeast India

The paper looks at how media engages with the issue of framing movements in the northeastern state of Manipur. The focus of the paper is on the demand for Inner Line Permit in Manipur that landed the state into conflict between the communities of the state. The passing of the three bills, as discussed in the paper, by the state government has snowballed into ethnic tensions and re-opened the hill–valley divide in this northeastern state. By using frame analysis, the paper intends to explicate the issue of media framing within the socio-political context of the state. The paper then engages with the process in which local media frames movements that are diametrically opposed to one another. The study further reveals that the local media in Manipur are greatly influenced by the local politics and remain integral to it.     

Resolving conflict realistically in today's health care environment.

Conflict is a natural part of human interaction, and when properly addressed, results in improved interpersonal relationships and positive organizational culture. Unchecked conflict may escalate to verbal and physical violence. Conflict that is unresolved creates barriers for people, teams, organizational growth, and productivity, leading to cultural disintegration within the establishment. By relying on interdependence and professional collaboration, all parties involved grow and, in turn, benefit the organization and population served. When used in a constructive manner, conflict resolution can help all parties involved see the whole picture, thus allowing freedom for growth and change. Conflict resolution is accomplished best when emotions are controlled before entering into negotiation. Positive confrontation, problem solving, and negotiation are processes used to realistically resolve conflict. Everyone walks away a winner when conflict is resolved in a positive, professional manner (Stone, 1999).     

Codes and conflict

Conclusion If theory caused a more critical study of war, it would have achieved its purpose. (Clausewitz)In this article I have shown that in times of war, beneath the apparently rational surface of modern societies and states there lurks a powerful religious dimension that is of crucial importance in structuring political and military activity, in informing public, political, and intellectual discourse, and in shaping opinion, beliefs, attitudes, sentiments, and social action. The religious dimension is neither a mere jumble of diffuse sentiments, beliefs, and ideas, nor a simple ideological reflection of social interests — it is an autonomous, internally coherent, analogically organized code that specifies sacred and profane elements and embodies an endogenous apophantic logic. This analytically autonomous code provides for the specification of war as ritual in concrete historical sequences. If the reader comes away from this article feeling that she better understands the role and organization of culture in war, and that consequently war cannot be explained, understood, and interpreted only in terms of economic, geopolitical, and psychological variables, then I will have achieved my chief objective here. However, I hope that this article also has a larger contribution to make. Sociology has inherited a rich tradition of ideas from its founding fathers. This tradition, enshrined in the classic works of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, has informed and shaped the discipline. It seems a shame that contemporary trends in social thought and research draw increasingly upon selected strands of thought in the legacy of only two of those gentlemen. The result of this movement, I believe, is not just a trend toward impoverished uni-dimensional studies of social reality, but also the loss of the auto-critical possibilities engendered by a discourse that draws upon diverse theoretical resources. As I have tried to demonstrate here, Durkheim's legacy, with its unique emphasis on ritual and symbolism, still provides a useful resource for the critique of social theory and the analysis of social life — even in those areas where one would least expect any fruitful insights to arise. More importantly, as Clausewitz recognized, theory contains the possibility not merely for the formal study, but also for the critical study of war. With its stress on voluntarism, a Durkheimian theory of war provides a vital and distinct contrast to those theories of war that attribute causation to factors outside of human control, be they psychological, geopolitical, or economic. The awareness of ethical responsibility arising from such an under-standing provides, one would like to think, the possibility for change.     

Moral conflict and dynamic equilibrium: Public relations as strategic conflict management

In the literature review and proposed theoretical models, the author argues that we often engage in advocacy in public relations on behalf of causes we hold dear, much like a strong defender on a soccer field becomes physical in defending the goal without violating explicit rules or our sense of what is right and appropriate in a competitive world. The author presents this image of an athlete contending in fair competition as a metaphor for a rejection of canonized thinking about accommodation in public relations in favor of public relations as strategic conflict management. This research is offered to continue the discussion in the field of public relations from the contingency theory of strategic conflict management and consider the ethical challenges faced by public relations practitioners in an ongoing cycle of conflict. This article is included in the special issue on the contingency theory of strategic conflict management.     

When publics collide: Developing the dual orientation conflict model in inter-public conflict

Inter-public conflict has largely been neglected in PR research. When left to fester, such conflict may perpetuate prejudice, injustice, inequality, and other societal ills. From a PR standpoint, organizations may find it increasingly difficult to operate in the resulting climate of hostility. This piece aims to shift focus from managing direct, organization-public conflict to navigating indirect, inter-public conflict, thus broadening conflict management perspectives. Based on contingency and social identity theories, we test the dual orientation conflict model (DOCM) in the field of government public relations. The model posits two dimensions (embracing/excluding and in-group/out-group) and categorizes four types of conflict orientation (adaptation, in-group adoption, out-group adoption, and avoidance). The proposed four-factor model, comprised of 16 items, was found to be reliable and valid in an online survey of 2498 South Korean citizens across different conflictual problems. Theoretical and strategic implications are discussed.     

Intra-class conflict in rural areas

Although the changing nature of rural society has received considerable attention over the last two decades, there is a sense in which the importance of class conflict in rural areas has yet to be fully explored. There has been a preoccupation with matters of local authenticity in these communities, and the portrayal of social relations has been founded on a theatre of ‘locals vs newcomers’. Thus, class conflict has been accepted as the staging of a play-off between middle class in-migrants and the indigenous working class element of the community.In this paper we attempt to deal with the problem of class conflict from a rather different perspective. Specifically, we are less interested in inter-class conflict, and more interested in intra-class conflict. We argue that intra-class conflict can be a significant motive force in the economic, social and cultural constitution of rural areas.     

Storytelling, conflict and diversity

Oral storytelling can be effective as a tool in community development.The author explores the potential of storytelling in relationto a number of community projects in the UK and elsewhere.     

Land conflict in Nepal1

This paper examines the agrarian social relationships between peasant farmers and local feudal landlords. Using land conflict as a basis of analysis this paper explores the basic characteristics of a Nepalese power skewed rural society and its relation with land. A case study was conducted using key informants and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion, questionnaire survey, and observation to examine the agrarian social relations. The paper highlights that reformative rules and regulations alone do not always govern the behaviour of powerful people in rural communities. Rather, context and time-specific, persistent local resistance movements force changes to their behaviour and associated power relations. The paper concludes that organized peasant movements could non-coercively change existing patron-client relations in agrarian society. Rural families and tenant farmers are able to establish their identity when they realize their strengths. Este papel examina las relaciones sociales agrarias entre campesinos y propietarios campesinos feudales locales. Usando el conflicto de la tierra como base del análisis, este papel explora las características básicas del poder asimétrico de la sociedad rural nepalés y su relación con la tierra. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de caso utilizando un informante clave y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, discusiones de un grupo muestra elegido y la inspección y observación de cuestionarios para examinar las relaciones agrarias sociales. El papel subraya que el comportamiento de la gente poderosa en la sociedad rural no siempre está gobernada sólo por las normas reformativas y por las reglas. Más bien, el contexto y los movimientos específicos y persistentes de resistencia local hacen cambiar su comportamiento y sus relaciones asociadas al poder. Se concluye que los movimientos campesinos organizados pueden cambiar sin coerción las relaciones existentes entre cliente y patrón en la sociedad agraria. Las familias rurales y los arrendatarios son capaces the establecer su identidad cuando se dan cuenta de sus fuerzas.     

Moralizing gods and armed conflict

This study documents a robust empirical pattern between moralizing gods, which prescribe fixed laws of morality, and conflict prevalence and fatalities, using spatially referenced data for Africa on contemporary conflicts and ancestral belief systems of individual ethnic groups prior to European contact. Moralizing gods are found to significantly increase conflict prevalence and casualties at the local level. The identification strategy draws on the evolutionary psychology roots of moralizing gods as a solution to the collective action problem in pre-modern societies. A one standard deviation increase in the likelihood of emergence of a moralizing god increases casualties by 18–36% and conflict prevalence by 4–8% approximately.     

Geopolitical-economic conflict and network infrastructures

This article explicates three basic aspects of the conflicted history of transnational communications networks: How extraterritorial communications have functioned since the nineteenth century as a primary axis of expansion for a transnationalizing capitalism; how geopolitical pressures and rivalries have helped break down and reconstitute network infrastructures; and how contemporary US–China relations in respect to the Internet may be set within this historical framework. The longstanding dominance of the United States over extraterritorial networks was itself a historical outcome, and today it faces escalating – but still far from successful – challenges.