Search results

The relationship between intergroup conflict and intragroup cohesion is a longstanding concern in sociology and related disciplines. Past work suggests that intergroup conflict shapes emotional bonds between group members, promotes in-group and out-group stereotyping, encourages self-sacrifice for the group, and changes the social structure of groups. Conflict thus plays an important structural role in organizing social interaction. Although sociologists contributed much to the beginnings of this research tradition, sociological attention to the conflict–cohesion link has waned in recent decades. We contend that despite advances in our understanding of the conflict–cohesion hypothesis, more remains to be done, and sociologists are especially equipped to tackle these unanswered questions. As such, we encourage sociologists to revisit the study of intergroup conflict and intragroup cohesion and offer some possibilities for furthering our understanding of this phenomenon. After reviewing and evaluating the relevant literatures on the conflict–cohesion hypothesis, we consider ways in which a broad range of current theories from the group process tradition – including theories of status, exchange, justice, identity, and emotion – could contribute to understanding the conflict–cohesion hypothesis and how those theories could benefit from considering the conflict–cohesion hypothesis. In doing so, we make a case for the continuing importance of sociology in explaining the link between intergroup conflict and intragroup cohesion.

This chapter introduces how the teaching of leadership, within negotiation, conflict transformation, and peace building uses adult education strategies. In turn, adult education effectively prepares learners, especially those concerned about poverty, and injustice, to be active agents working on behalf of community development. Optimally, the pedagogy of conflict transformation and peace building incorporates the best of both adult and leadership education. The chapter begins with a case study where the ecumenical Services for Peace (SEP) inspired an agricultural cooperative and other response to community need between conflicted communities in Cameroon. SEP did so through using adult education in mediation and peace building strategy that prioritized reflective practice (assessment, monitoring, and evaluation). The chapter then shows how these same and other adult learning activities are used in the authors’ classroom to teach conflict transformation so that students master collaborative skills. As a result, they are potently equipped to act as effective leaders on behalf of social justice concerns.

This paper develops the concept of a futureless past, drawing upon G. H. Mead's theory of the past. The futureless past is distinct from several other familiar conceptualizations, including symbolic reconstruction, anomie, and nostalgia. Specifically, the futureless past represents acknowledgment of prior significance and the co-acknowledgment that whatever has occurred cannot possibly occur again. Drawing upon films such as The Days of Wine and Roses and No Country for Old Men, the paper explores the notion of moving forward in time with recollections of things that have passed, using such passage as boundaries between what should and must occur and what can never occur in order to project or deny a shared future.