One's social class under capitalist economy determines thoughts
Material Determinism
Symbolic Interaction theory
Meaning of language and artifacts determine our thinking and conceptualization of social relationships
Human development and interpersonal interaction
human individuals develop their personalities through interaction with others, by exchanging
meaningful symbols with each other for the purpose of defining themselves.
Family conflicts
Endogenous Conflicts
Situation is defined as a conflict by agreement of party involved
Exogenous Conflicts
No pre-existing system for the resolution of this type of conflict - "hate your guts"
Symmetrical Structures
members of the marital dyad have the same resources and perceive their power base as equal
Qualitative Studies
Conflict as rooted in meaning - experience, emotions and interpretation
Phenomenological
conflict as constructed by participants’ experiences in group, community and social interactions.
Social Construction
Norms for conflict and definition of conflict are worked through communication, rituals, and
expectations of members
Critical/cultural studies
conflict embedded in a society’s power structures (economic, social, cultural, ideological
defines and normalizes power
Neurobiology
Responses
Low road - judgement, reactive, reflexive
High road - thoughtful, reflective
Mirror neurons
catching moods, reflecting emotions back, empathy
Neuroplascitiy
Neurons can be turned on and off based on experience
Cognitive Theories
Attribution Theory
Interpersonal Judgements (quick)
How we interpret events
environment
personal effect
ability
effort
eg. sister getting job @ Starbucks
Social Judgement Theory
How we make judgements about new info
anchors; based on experience
Heuristical Errors
Bandwagon Effect (groupthink)
tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same
Ambiguity Effect
tendency to avoid options for which missing information makes the probability seem "unknown.”
Confirmation Bias
tendency to search for or interpret information or memories in a way that confirms one's
preconceptions
Illusion of control
tendency to overestimate one's degree of influence over other external events
Just-world Hypothesis
the tendency for people to want to believe that the world is fundamentally just, causing them to
rationalize an otherwise inexplicable injustice as deserved by the victim
Negativity Bias
tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative than positive experiences or other
kinds of information.
Cognitive Dissonance
"engine that drives self-justification, the energy that produce the need to justify our actions and
decisions - especially the wrong ones"
Tavris and Arnson pg. 13 “Mistakes were made but not by me”
Sociopsychological Theories
Communication Accomodation Theory
how we adjust our behaviour to the actions of others
voice volume, pace, body language
convergence/divergence
Expectancy Violation Theory
when nonverbal behaviours don’t match our expectation or experience
eye contact, body language, volume
Interpersonal Deception Theory
when and how we detect someone not being honest
Organizational Conflict
Expressed struggle or disagreement between and among people who work together to achieve
common goals
Instrumental
Looks at what activities are involved to achieve our goals and manage conflict
Developmental
challenges that arise through the key phases in the group’s development
Political
dominant and subordinate groups and how they interact to create or mitigate change
Negotiation
opposing parties settle their differences on their own, without any third party to assist them
Mediation
Offers nonadversarial alternative solutions and helps draft final settlement - designate mediator
Arbitration
Third-party neutral makes a legally binding or nonbinding decision on the case.
Parties loose control of the decision
International Conflict
Embedded in longstanding differences and inequalities - Colonialism, humans rights abuses
ROLE OF RELIGION
Behaviour - communal acts;rituals; rules of interaction as part of a membership to a community - important
Belief - socially constructed roles, guides religious behaviour but not necessarily dependent on the other
Faith - emotional response, personal experience or interpretation
Certain faiths are flexible/inflexible
i.e. Christian Fundamentalists – either/or outcome (reproductive and LGBTQ rights)
i.e. Muslims - Quaran encourages forgiveness, patience, and similar principles - compromise or avoid
conflict altogether
Fundamentalism
indicating unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs... can be dangerous
Just War Theory
1. Just cause/right intention: A just war must be fought only for purposes of
self-defense against armed attack or to right a serious wrong.
2. Proper authority: A war is just only if waged by a legitimate authority.
3. Last resort: A just war must be the last resort; all peaceful options
must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.
4. Probability of success: There must be a reasonable chance of success;
deaths and injury that result from a hopeless cause cannot be morally
justified.
5. Beneficial outcome: The outcome of the war must be better than the
situation that would exist had the war not taken place.
6. Proportionality: The violence and destruction must be proportional to
the injury suffered.
Cultural Conflicts
Positionality
One's social location or position of power within an intersecting web of socially constructed hierarchical categories (race, gender, religion)
Standpoint Theory
A place from which to view and make sense of the world around us (influences what we do and see)
Ethnocentrism
Our own group's way of thinking, being and acting in the world is superior
leads to negative evaluations, discrimination... used to justify colonization, oppression, war
Cultural identity
Sense of self shaped by our cultural experiences and social locations
Different interpretations based on dominant/non dominant individuals in society
Social Movements - advocacy for change socially/politically
Types
Alternative
Champions individual (often marginalized) behaviours or
characteristics
EG. LGBTQ, MADD
Reformative
Advocates gradual change to certain aspects of society Liberalism;
Socialism; Religious in nature
EG. WOMEN'S SUFFERAGE
Redemptive
Change individual perceptions of a topic through radical action
Fundamentalist Religions and Cults
Revoluntionary
Advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the state;
overthrow the government
EG. AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Elements
Campaigns
sustained, organized, public
Repetoire
public action - includes meetings, demos, events, rallies
WVNC Strategies
participants publicly demonstrate Worthiness, Unity, Numbers, and
Commitment
Theories
Deprivation Theory - social movements have their foundations among
people who feel deprived of some good(s) or resource(s).
Marxist Theory - conflict b/t industrial workers and their
capitalist employers in the 19th century.
Mass society theory - social movements made up of ppl in
large societies who feel insignificant/socially detached.
Framing perspective - must
develop an injustice frame to mobilize ppl - a collection of ideas & symbols that
illustrate both how significant the problem is, as well as what the
movement can do to alleviate it