Cultural conflict

{{Redirect|Culture clash|other uses|Culture Clash (disambiguation){{!}}Culture Clash}}

Cultural conflict is a type of conflict that occurs when different cultural values and beliefs clash. Broad and narrow definitions exist for the concept, both of which have been used to explain violence (including war) and crime, on either a micro or macro scale.

Conflicting values

Jonathan H. Turner defines cultural conflict as a conflict caused by "differences in cultural values and beliefs that place people at odds with one another."{{cite book |author=Jonathan H. Turner |author-link=Jonathan H. Turner |title=Sociology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90vMAAAACAAJ|access-date=14 January 2013|date=1 September 2005|publisher=Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-113496-6 |page=87}} On a micro level, Alexander Grewe discusses cultural conflict between hotel-guests of different culture and nationality as seen in the British 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers.{{cite book |author=Alexander Grewe |title="I'm sick to death with you..." or External Character Conflicts in Fawlty Towers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRnUcigKzqEC&pg=PA10 |access-date=14 January 2013 |date=17 October 2005 |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=978-3-638-42885-9 |page=10}} He defines this conflict as one that occurs when people's expectations of a certain behavior coming from their cultural backgrounds are not met, as others have different cultural backgrounds and different expectations.

Cultural conflicts are difficult to resolve as parties to the conflict have different beliefs.{{cite book |author=Jonathan H. Turner |author-link=Jonathan H. Turner |title=Sociology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90vMAAAACAAJ |access-date=14 January 2013 |date=1 September 2005 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-113496-6 |page=83}} Cultural conflicts intensify when those differences become reflected in politics, particularly on a macro level.{{cite book |author=Jonathan H. Turner |author-link=Jonathan H. Turner |title=Sociology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90vMAAAACAAJ |access-date=14 January 2013 |date=1 September 2005 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-113496-6 |page=83}} An example of cultural conflict is the debate over abortion. Ethnic cleansing is another extreme example of cultural conflict.{{cite book |author1=Margaret L. Andersen |author2=Howard F. Taylor |title=Sociology: The Essentials |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTvpA0P3u-gC&pg=PT72 |access-date=14 January 2013 |date=1 January 2012|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-111-83156-1|page=72}} Wars can also be a result of a cultural conflict; for example, differing views on slavery were one of the causes of the American Civil War.{{cite book|author=Michael Fellman|title=Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LldHnF7CB3kC&pg=PA15|access-date=14 January 2013|date=19 April 1990|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-506471-1|page=15}}

Crime and deviance

A more narrow definition of a cultural conflict dates to Daniel Bell's 1962 essay, "Crime as an American Way of Life", and focuses on criminal-enabling consequences of a clash in cultural values.{{cite book|author=William Kornblum|title=Sociology in a Changing World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtKcG6qoY5AC&pg=PT191|access-date=14 January 2013|date=31 January 2011|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-111-30157-6|pages=191–192; 195, 197, 205}}

William Kornblum defines it as a conflict that occurs when conflicting norms create "opportunities for deviance and criminal gain in deviant subcultures." Kornblum notes that, whenever laws impose cultural values on a group that does not share those views (often, this is the case of the majority imposing their laws on a minority), illegal markets supplied by criminals are created to circumvent those laws. He discusses the example of prohibition in the interbellum United States, and notes how the cultural conflict between pro- and anti-alcohol groups created opportunities for illegal activity; another similar example he lists is that of the war on drugs.

Kornblum also classifies the cultural conflict as one of the major types of conflict theory. In The Clash of Civilizations Samuel P. Huntington proposes that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world.

Influence and understanding

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Michelle LeBaron describes different cultures as "underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other."{{cite web |title=Culture and Conflict |url=http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/culture-conflict |access-date=2013-04-21 |publisher=Beyond Intractability}} She states that cultural messages "shape our understandings" when two or more people are present in regards to relationships, conflict, and peace. LeBaron discusses the influence of culture as being powerful and "unconscious, influencing conflict and attempts to resolve conflict in imperceptible ways." She states that the impact of culture is huge, affecting "name, frame, blame, and attempt to tame conflicts." Due to the huge impact that culture has on us, LeBaron finds it important to explain the "complications of conflict:"

First, "culture is multi-layered," meaning that "what you see on the surface may mask differences below the surface."
Second, "culture is constantly in flux," meaning that "cultural groups adapt in dynamic and sometimes unpredictable ways."
Third, "culture is elastic," meaning that one member of a cultural group may not participate in the norms of the culture.
Lastly, "culture is largely below the surface," meaning that it isn't easy to reach the deeper levels of culture and its meanings.

Cultural conflict

Conflicting values

Crime and deviance

Influence and understanding

See also

References

Further reading