Morton Deutsch is considered the founder of modern conflict resolution theory and practice. He has written and researched areas which pioneered current efforts in conflict resolution and diplomacy. This volume showcases six of Deutsch’s more notable and influential papers, and include complementary chapters written by other significant contributors working in these areas who can situate the original papers in the context of the existing state of scholarship.
Commemorating Morton Deutsch’s 95th birthday, this book presents ten major texts by this highly respected social psychologist on war and peace. This first volume presents Deutsch in his role as a leading social science activist on issues of war and peace – writing papers, making speeches and participating in demonstrations. After serving in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and being awarded two Distinguished Flying Cross medals, as a psychologist he was determined to work for a more peaceful world. Influenced by Kurt Lewin, who believed that nothing was as practical as a good theory, Deutsch pursued theoretical work on such issues as cooperation-competition, conflict resolution and social justice with regard to issues of war and peace. As President of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the International Society of Political Psychology, he helped to foster social science efforts to make for a more peaceful world.
The basic question to which this book is addressed is not how to eliminate or prevent conflict but rather how to make it productive, or minimally, how to prevent it from being destructive. I shall not deal with situations of "pure" conflict in which inevitably one side loses what the other gains. My interest is in conflict where there is a mixture of cooperative and competitive interests, where a variety of outcomes is possible; mutual loss, gain for one and loss of the other, and mutual gain. Thus my query can be restated, as an investigation of the conditions under which the participants will evolve a cooperative relationship or a competitive relationship in a situation which permits either. -- from the introduction.
Published in association with the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (a division of the American Psychological Association), this book is inspired by the groundbreaking work of Morton Deutsch, a pioneer in applied social psychology. The contributors--all authorities in their fields and former students or colleagues of Deutsch--include leading thinkers from schools and departments of sociology, psychology, education, and management, with expertise ranging from labor relations to school-based conflict resolution to cooperative education programs and business policy. Each chapter focuses on one of the three areas of Deutsch's work--conflict, cooperation, and justice--with a commentary by Deutsch himself concluding each section. This volume is both a tribute to the work of Deutsch and a cross-disciplinary contribution to theory and practice in conflict, cooperation, and justice--with applications that cut across business, community, political, and other social groups.
The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, Second Edition is written for both the seasoned professional and the student who wants to deepen their understanding of the processes involved in conflicts and their knowledge of how to manage them constructively. It provides the theoretical underpinnings that throw light on the fundamental social psychological processes involved in understanding and managing conflicts at all levels—interpersonal, intergroup, organizational, and international. The Handbook covers a broad range of topics including information on cooperation and competition, justice, trust development and repair, resolving intractable conflict, and working with culture and conflict. Comprehensive in scope, this new edition includes chapters that deal with language, emotion, gender, and personal implicit theories as they relate to conflict.
The partisan divide in the United States has widened to a chasm. Legislators vote along party lines and rarely cross the aisle. Political polarization is personal, too—and it is making us miserable. Surveys show that Americans have become more fearful and hateful of supporters of the opposing political party and imagine that they hold much more extreme views than they actually do. We have cordoned ourselves off: we prefer to date and marry those with similar opinions and are less willing to spend time with people on the other side. How can we loosen the grip of this toxic polarization and start working on our most pressing problems? The Way Out offers an escape from this morass. The social psychologist Peter T. Coleman explores how conflict resolution and complexity science provide guidance for dealing with seemingly intractable political differences. Deploying the concept of attractors in dynamical systems, he explains why we are stuck in this rut as well as the unexpected ways that deeply rooted oppositions can and do change. Coleman meticulously details principles and practices for navigating and healing the difficult divides in our homes, workplaces, and communities, blending compelling personal accounts from his years of working on entrenched conflicts with lessons from leading-edge research. The Way Out is a vital and timely guide to breaking free from the cycle of mutual contempt in order to better our lives, relationships, and country.
Originally published in 1975, these contributions surveyed the range of social intervention technology available to psychologists at the time, but they are more than a simple cataloguing of technology. The stress is on articulating certain metatheoretical assumptions that underlie different strategies of social intervention. For example, assumptions about the personal agency, the nature of social systems, and levels and forms of interpersonal influences are all examined. The implications for the training of psychologists are developed, and specific attention is given to the identity crisis in social psychology precipitated by existing pressures and potentials for change at the time.
From July 16 through July 21, 1984 a group of American and West German scholars met in Marburg, West Germany to discuss their com mon work on the topic of justice in social relations. For over 30 hours they presented papers, raised questions about each other's work, and in so doing plotted a course for future research and theory building on this topic. The participants were asked to present work that represented their most recent state-of-the-science contributions in the area. The con tributions to this volume represent refined versions of those presentations-papers that have been improved by the authors' consid eration of the comments and reactions of their colleagues. The result, we believe, is a work that represents the cutting edge of scholarly inquiry into the important matter of justice in social relations. To give the participants the freedom to present their ideas in the most appropriate way, we, the conference organizers and the editors of this volume, gave them complete control over the form and substance of their presentations. The resulting diversity is reflected in this book, where the reader will find critical integrative reviews of the literature, reports of research investigations, and statements of theoretical posi tions. The chapters are organized with respect to the common themes that emerged in the way the authors addressed the issues of justice in social relations. Each of these themes-conflict and power, theoretical perspectives, norms, and applications-is represented by a part of this book.
One in every twenty difficult conflicts ends up grinding to a halt. That's fully 5 percent of not just the diplomatic and political clashes we read about in the newspaper, but disputations and arguments from our everyday lives as well. Once we get pulled into these self-perpetuating conflicts it is nearly impossible to escape. The 5 percent rule us. So what can we do when we find ourselves ensnared? According to Dr. Peter T. Coleman, the solution is in seeing our conflict anew. Applying lessons from complexity theory to examples from both American domestic politics and international diplomacy -- from abortion debates to the enmity between Israelis and Palestinians -- Coleman provides innovative new strategies for dealing with intractable disputes. A timely, paradigm-shifting look at conflict, The Five Percent is an invaluable guide to preventing even the most fractious negotiations from foundering.
