Conflict and Competition: Analytical Conflict Theories at the Macro Level

Abstract

In managing conflict, both within and between groups, numerous informal and formal mechanisms of social control are utilized to enforce rules and regulations, to prevent conflict from erupting into widespread rebellion, and to help reduce blatant forms of unfair hostility or coercion of the weak by the strong. These mechanisms for controlling, regulating, or preventing conflict are backed up by hierarchies of dominance and by unequal control of the means of persuasion and coercion-and this inequality may itself be a source of conflict. This chapter will cover the following theoretical perspectives on social conflict: