Source: Boundless. Retrieved 27 Feb. Skip to main content. Gender Stratification and Inequality. Search for:. The Conflict Perspective Brief Conflict theory suggests that men, as the dominant gender, subordinate women in order to maintain power and privilege in society.
Learning Objectives Describe gender from the view of the conflict perspective. Key Takeaways Conflict theory asserts that social problems occur when dominant groups mistreat subordinate ones, and thus advocates for a balance of power between genders. From the literature review, it is possible to infer and highlight the different causes pointed to the school conflict.
With a very similar rating, Jares [ 1 ] indicates four main causes: ideological-scientific, related to different pedagogical, ideological, and organizational options, and the type of school culture or cultures that coexist; power causes, related to organization control, professional promotion, access to resources and decision making; causes of structure, related to the ambiguity of objectives and functions, organizational fragility, organizational and variable contexts; and personal and interpersonal causes, related to self-esteem, security, professional dissatisfaction, and communication.
In this sequence, and given the increase in school conflicts, Ibarra [ 18 ] recognizes as school conflict causes: the increase in compulsory schooling, the increase in the number of students per class, teachers perceive a progressive decline in their authority about students, and students are less likely to comply with certain rules and limits, which results in conflict situations.
Regarding the increase in compulsory education, this leads to a greater number of unmotivated and undisciplined students, which implies an increase in school conflict. Likewise, the increase in the number of students per class, without increasing the facilities or associated conditions, increases the conflict occurrence, because of their negative changes in the physical and psychological environment, in overcrowded classrooms, with a lack of space for practical and collaborative activities.
In addressing interpersonal relationships in schools cannot neglect family background. When dealing with interpersonal relationships in the school context, it is necessary to take into account the family reality of each student, since the family interpersonal relationships have a strong connection with the school conflict [ 19 ].
Burguet [ 17 ] points the dismissal of families as educational agents. In other words, the role of the family often does not seem to offer a good foundation in the education of young people, which is reflected in their behavior in the processes of interaction at school.
As Berkowitz [ 20 ] indicates, many of the interaction problems originate in the family, and the student reproduces the behaviors he learns with his parents. It should be noted that the context experienced by the Covid pandemic has a greater impact on students from poorer families. The situation of these most vulnerable students was a problem whose dimension grew with online classes, as they encountered immense barriers and lack of support for quality education during confinement.
Thus, students who before the pandemic were unmotivated and presented conflicting behaviors at school should be the target of more support during this pandemic phase, to minimize the conflicting behaviors. So, the family and the school must go together to contribute to the conflict becoming part of a process of growth, acceptance of the other, and accountability. Learning to deal with school conflicts positively is essential for the development of healthy relationships.
Another cause of school conflicts is pointed to society and the values it conveys, Burguet [ 17 ] points to the example of social communication, which encourages violence through violent programs, broadcasting news with prejudiced and conflicting messages. All of these situations enhance the conflicting attitudes of children and young people, which are reflected in school behaviors.
The school builds a social interface favorable to involvement, where conflicts proliferate in the educational process complexity, being common and daily in classes. Thus, in the classroom different types of conflict occur, being a challenge for most teachers to know how to face, manage, and resolve these conflicts [ 7 ]. Teachers often perceive conflicts as indiscipline, violence, disrespect, and like all situations threatening his authority, and inexperienced and experienced teachers emphasize the teacher-student conflict as a frequent situation in difficult classes [ 21 ].
In this context, Silva and Flores [ 19 ] refer to the negative effect that these situations have on attainment and student motivation, so it is urgent to find solutions to avoid or mitigate such effects. The classroom coexistence problems are mainly related to social and pedagogical changes [ 22 ].
In this sequence, there are several conflict situations that teachers can face during classes. So, the increase in compulsory education leads to a greater number of dissatisfied, unmotivated, and undisciplined students. Likewise, the increase in students per class, without increasing the facilities or associated conditions, negatively affects the psychological environment in overcrowded classrooms, with a lack of space for practical and collaborative activities.
In turn, the progressive decline in teacher authority in relation to students and students are less likely to comply with certain rules and limits, results in conflicts in the classroom. Conflicts in the teacher-student relationship are recurrent in the classroom, and [ 17 ] indicates as causes generating conflict, not only concerning the expectations of the teacher-student but also the student towards the teacher.
In this sequence, the authors highlight the following problems that cause conflict: discipline problems, adaptation to individual differences problems, and evaluation problems. As for discipline problems, these are the result of provocation and contempt of the student towards the teacher, or the teacher towards the student, to exercise their authority. In turn, problems of adaptation to individual differences are related to heterogeneous behaviors and diminished personal relationships.
As for the problems related to the evaluation, result mainly from the personal rhythms of each student and teacher. Also, the mandatory stay in the classroom, away from the interests and expectations of some students, is recurrent as a conflict cause. There are many and diverse classroom conflict situations that disturb the class dynamics. And in situations where the conflict remains latent, the result of the diversity of class interests, if the teacher does not create a good environment, acting positively about communication, the use of legitimate authority, and the conflict management, he will see conflicts increase exponentially within the classes [ 24 ].
Thus, regardless of the classroom conflicts type, if they are not managed, they accumulate, which makes them more cohesive and complicated, triggering negative feelings in those involved, and negatively affecting the educational quality [ 24 ].
The causes of the aforementioned conflicts are linked to personal issues and interpersonal relationships. And, most of these conflicts reveal an undisciplined character and increase daily in the class context. In this way, the teacher in the absence of solid guidelines can develop discontent, insecurity, and dissatisfaction that are reflected in his conflict face performance.
Another aspect to be highlighted is that related to the power or lack of it that, increasingly, the teacher presents, and that reveals itself in discontent. Conflict can inspire innovations and creative strategies in addressing challenging issues, as well as improving work, results, and encouraging organizations to achieve higher levels of quality and achievement.
Negative psychological impacts include discomfort, insecurity, insignificance feelings, sadness, resentment, frustration, and stress. In turn, at the social level, results of hostility, intolerance, and violence are present [ 16 ]. As for the negative results within the institutions, the author highlights the existence of a tense environment, weakened cooperation, communication failures, poor performance, and an undisciplined environment.
Inevitably, in this way, there is a decrease in education quality. The conflicts traditional and negative view has implications for the training of students, as the current discourse in many schools is about how to avoid conflicts since their educational potential is sometimes not perceived by the school community. This discourse conceives the conflict by the violent consequences that result from its non-management.
Conflict is recognized as an engine of social development and its effects are positive when the conflict is managed well. Thus, about the positive impacts arising from the school conflict, these have various levels of benefits [ 16 ]. At a personal level, the conflict allows learning to be related to the perception of errors, and to develop new ideas. On the other hand, at the social level, it enables the reinforcement of communication, respect for others, and enhances commitment.
Regarding the benefits at the organizational level, it makes it possible to understand problems, seek and develop new solutions, and develop a democratic and enriching environment in the school. Thus, conflicts can contribute to the construction of broader visions of certain situations and, at the same time, guarantee rights and opportunities for all, regardless of interpersonal differences. It is noteworthy that the methods most used at school, face of students conflicting behaviors, include warning, disapproval, summoning guardians, and in some cases, student suspension.
Methodologies that provoke negative feelings and, later, originate new undesirable behaviors, being applied without taking into account the needs, personal conflicts, problems, and students expectations [ 26 ].
As indicated by Torrecilla et al. As noted earlier, classroom conflict is an unavoidable reality. Thus, being inevitable, adequate strategies are needed to resolve it so that the conflict potential advantages are taken advantage of and its harmful effects are minimized or canceled out. Conflict management strategies are understood as the behavior types that are adopted in the conflict context, that is, they are basic strategies to manage a situation in which the parties consider their interests to be incompatible.
It is important to note that the choice between different conflict management strategies depends on the conflict level and the various situations that must be managed effectively [ 27 ], that is, to manage conflict functionally, it is important to recognize that one strategy may be more appropriate than another, depending on the conflict situation, being considered appropriate if its use leads to the effective formulation or resolution of the conflict [ 27 ].
So, strategies refer to specific patterns of behavior that are adopted in conflict situations. They are different strategies for conflict management and correspond to the attitudes to confront and conflict resolutions.
Characterized by a high assertiveness and lack of cooperation, in which the acquisition of objectives is viewed with supremacy over the interests of the other party.
Furthermore, it is often considered an aggressive strategy; c Obliging: tends to be adopted by those individuals who attempt to play down the differences and emphasizes commonalities to satisfy the concerns of the other party. Represents a conflict management strategy where the cooperation is high, and assertiveness is low; d Integrating: individuals who use this strategy manage conflicts directly and cooperatively, seeking to solve in collaboration with the other, is a strategy connected with problem-solving.
The use of this involves openness, exchanging information, looking for alternatives, and examination of differences to reach an effective solution for everyone involved in the conflict.
Is a strategy useful for effectively dealing with complex problems; and e Compromising: represents the attempt to satisfy, moderately and partially, the interests of all those involved in the conflict, and shares commonalities with all of the other four strategies. Is a strategy that requires compromise and assignment. Compromising is an intermediate strategy on assertiveness and cooperation, which implies a compromise in the search for an acceptable intermediate position for everyone involved in the conflict.
Too, the findings of Aliasgari and Farzadnia [ 29 ] indicate that teachers prefer the integrating strategy over the other conflict management strategy.
So, in the presence of classroom conflict, the teacher proposes alternatives, applies open lines of communication, makes concessions, accepts responsibility, maximizes similarities, and minimizes existing differences between self and student [ 24 ].
Therefore, the integrating strategy is connected with classroom problem-solving, the use of this strategy involves openness and exchanging information, being the ideal strategy in dealing with complex classroom problems [ 24 ].
This is an intermediate strategy on assertiveness and cooperation, which implies a compromise in the search for an acceptable intermediate position for everyone involved in the conflict [ 27 ].
So, conflicts involve, in addition to interpersonal skills such as availability for dialog, emotional intelligence skills, which require the perception and recognition of the affective dimension, and the feelings of those involved. In this sense, we can say that the evolution of interpersonal relationships has not kept pace with scientific and technological developments.
We were not educated to know how to interpret the language of emotions, just as we did not learn to solve conflict situations. We do not learn to perceive and manage emotions. Thus, the emotions that emerge from conflicts must be the target of attention and discussion, so that teachers and students are aware of their emotions and know how to deal with them. The concern with improving coexistence in schools, namely about conflict, is mentioned in several studies, whose objectives refer to the understanding of school conflicts, as well as preventing their occurrence through programs aimed at teachers and students [ 4 , 5 ].
Communication Problems. Suffice it to say that the various communication problems or ambiguities in the communication process can facilitate conflict. When one person misunderstands a message or when information is withheld, the person often responds with frustration and anger.
Dependence on Common Resource Pool. Another previously discussed factor that contributes to conflict is dependence on common resource pools. Whenever several departments must compete for scarce resources, conflict is almost inevitable. When resources are limited, a zero-sum game exists in which someone wins and, invariably, someone loses. Lack of Common Performance Standards.
Differences in performance criteria and reward systems provide more potential for organizational conflict. This often occurs because of a lack of common performance standards among differing groups within the same organization. For example, production personnel are often rewarded for their efficiency, and this efficiency is facilitated by the long-term production of a few products. Sales departments, on the other hand, are rewarded for their short-term response to market changes—often at the expense of long-term production efficiency.
In such situations, conflict arises as each unit attempts to meet its own performance criteria. Individual Differences. Finally, a variety of individual differences , such as personal abilities, traits, and skills, can influence in no small way the nature of interpersonal relations.
Individual dominance, aggressiveness, authoritarianism, and tolerance for ambiguity all seem to influence how an individual deals with potential conflict. Indeed, such characteristics may determine whether or not conflict is created at all.
Having examined specific factors that are known to facilitate conflict, we can ask how conflict comes about in organizations. The most commonly accepted model of the conflict process was developed by Kenneth Thomas. This model, shown in Figure , consists of four stages: 1 frustration, 2 conceptualization, 3 behavior, and 4 outcome. Stage 1: Frustration.
As we have seen, conflict situations originate when an individual or group feels frustration in the pursuit of important goals. This frustration may be caused by a wide variety of factors, including disagreement over performance goals, failure to get a promotion or pay raise, a fight over scarce economic resources, new rules or policies, and so forth.
In fact, conflict can be traced to frustration over almost anything a group or individual cares about. Stage 2: Conceptualization. In stage 2, the conceptualization stage of the model, parties to the conflict attempt to understand the nature of the problem, what they themselves want as a resolution, what they think their opponents want as a resolution, and various strategies they feel each side may employ in resolving the conflict. This stage is really the problem-solving and strategy phase.
For instance, when management and union negotiate a labor contract, both sides attempt to decide what is most important and what can be bargained away in exchange for these priority needs. Stage 3: Behavior. As a result of the conceptualization process, parties to a conflict attempt to implement their resolution mode by competing or accommodating in the hope of resolving problems. A major task here is determining how best to proceed strategically.
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