Biography of L. Coser. Lewis Coser: biography, personal life, scientific activity Functions of social conflict of a coser read

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Lewis Coser on functional conflict

Sociologists of the 19th and early 20th centuries generally held the view, expressed in particular by Charles Cooley, that “in some way, conflict is an expression of the life of society and progress is achieved in the struggle in which individuals, classes and institutions try to realize their own idea of good.”

However, sociologists of the mid-twentieth century replaced the study of conflict with the analysis of such concepts as “tension” and dysfunction. So, as for Talcott Parsons, one of the central problems in his work was the problem of how social order is possible. Questions about the patterns of social change, about “functional alternatives”, relevant for sociologists of the previous generation, are perceived by Parsons as peripheral, having little to do with the essence of the matter. Focusing on the description of normative structures, Parsons views conflict as something that destroys social bonds, destroys unity, and leads to dysfunctional consequences.

Coser emphasized that “conflict is not always dysfunctional for the relationships within which it occurs; conflict is often necessary to achieve connections within the system.” Conflict, according to Coser, serves to establish and maintain the identity of a particular society and determine its boundaries. Moreover, Coser noted precisely the functional significance of intrasocial conflicts, that is, “conflicts between different groups of the same society, for establishing and maintaining social unity.” Coser studied the basic functions of intrasocial conflicts and gave impetus to the development of modern anthropology.

In subsequent years, a number of works appeared on the functional significance of certain conflicts. One of them, belonging to R. Schermerhorn, formulated the idea that “conflict and integration are inseparable processes.” Moreover, according to the same author, “conflict is necessary to achieve a new order of integration.” The foregoing allows us to assert that the process of self-structuring of an ethnos occurs through intra-ethnic conflict, and, therefore, the modification of cultural tradition is also associated with intra-ethnic conflict. And the adaptive activity model will be considered by us as a model of a certain kind of conflict.

Coser’s theory of functional conflict was adopted by ethnopsychology and formed the basis for the concept of functional intra-ethnic (intracultural) conflict, of course, having undergone further development, and significantly complicated due to the fact that it is used to explain not social as such, but ethnopsychological patterns and is correlated with other components ethnopsychology.

Lewis Coser's concept of positive functional conflict

Its essence is as follows. Society is characterized by fatally inevitable social inequality, eternal psychological dissatisfaction of its members and the resulting tension between individuals and groups. By social conflict he understands “the struggle for values ​​and claims to a certain status, power and resources, a struggle in which the opponents’ goals are to neutralize, damage or destroy the opponent.” This is the most common definition of conflict in Western sociology. L. Coser closely links the form and intensity of the conflict with the characteristics of the conflicting parties. Since conflict between groups helps to strengthen intra-group solidarity (a common threat brings people together), and, consequently, the preservation of the group, the group leaders consciously resort to searching for an external enemy and incite an imaginary conflict. There are also known tactics aimed at searching for an internal enemy (“traitor”), especially when leaders suffer failures and defeats. At the same time, Coser notes, large groups with a high degree of complicity among their members can show a significant degree of flexibility. Small groups, also insufficiently integrated, can show cruelty and intolerance towards “evaded” members.

Sociological theories of conflict

Long before the official birth of sociology, there were theories that viewed society as an organized conflict or struggle between individuals and social groups, between different social strata of society, between different countries, religions, generations, genders, etc. Thus, the famous English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his views admits a large element of conflict in all social relations; he has no doubt that “man is a wolf to man,” and in society the natural state is “a war of all against all.” Later at the end of the 19th century. Herbert Spencer concluded that society selects the best of the best through a process of natural selection. Spencer's contemporary Karl Marx developed a slightly different view in this area. He suggested that social behavior could best be explained as a process of conflict. Marx focused on the struggle of different classes in society.

The contrast in views put forward by Hobbes, Spencer and Marx points to the decisive influence of the original units of analysis on the course of research. While economic classes were primarily Marx's units of analysis, Hobbes and Spencer were more concerned with the relationship between individuals and society. However, the conflict paradigm is not limited to economic analysis. The eminent German theorist Georg Simmel was particularly interested in studying conflict in small groups. He observed that conflicts among members of one closely related group tend to be more intense than conflicts among people who do not share a common sense of belonging to the same group.

Speaking about sociological theories of social conflict, we should focus on 3 main, fundamental concepts:

1. Lewis Coser’s concept of positive functional conflict;

2. conflict model of society by Ralph Dahrendorf;

3. general theory of conflict by Kenneth Boulding

According to the concept of L. Coser:

a) society is characterized by inevitable social inequality = constant psychological dissatisfaction of its members = tension in relations between individuals and groups (emotional, mental disorder) = social conflict;

b) social conflict as tension between what is and what should be in accordance with the ideas of certain social groups or individuals;

c) social conflict as a struggle for values ​​and claims to a certain status, power and resources, a struggle in which the opponents’ goals are to neutralize, cause damage or destroy the opponent.

R. Dahrendorf's conflict model of society:

a) constant social changes in society, the experience of social conflict;

b) any society relies on coercion of some of its members by others = inequality of social positions in relation to the distribution of power;

c) the difference in the social status of various social groups and individuals causes mutual friction, contradictions = as a result - a change in the social structure of society itself.

Kenneth Boulding's General Theory of Conflict

a) all conflicts have common development patterns. Their detailed study and analysis provides an opportunity to create a generalizing theory - a “general theory of conflict”, which will allow society to control conflicts, manage them, and predict their consequences;

b) conflict is inseparable from social life (in human nature there is a desire to fight against one’s own kind);

c) conflict - a situation in which each party seeks to take a position that is incompatible and opposite to the interests of the other party.

Lewis Coser's conflict functionalism.

Lewis Coser is a famous American sociologist, professor of sociology. Main works: “Functions of social conflict”, “Conflict and consensus”.

L. Coser focuses on positive functions. Following G. Simmel, he views conflict as one of the forms of social interaction, as a process that, under certain conditions, can have not only destructive, but also constructive (integrative) consequences for the “social organism”. Its main attention is aimed at identifying the reasons why conflict preserves or restores the integration of the system and its adaptability to changing conditions.

In the works of L. Coser one can find a number of functions of social conflict designated by him:

Establishing unity and cohesion;

Production of stabilizing and integrative elements;

Identifying the relative strength of antagonistic interests in the structure;

Creating a mechanism to support and/or equitably balance power;

Creation of associations and coalitions;

Help to reduce social isolation and bring individuals together;

Supporting boundaries between new associations and coalitions;

Acting as a release valve to reduce frustration and aggression;

Creating the ground for consensus;

Formation of clearer centralized structures responsible for decision making;

Strengthening internal unity;

Strengthening normative behavior and stimulating the development of new rules and norms.

In the conditions of the primary group, L. Coser argues, the completeness of personal involvement in conditions of suppression of a conflict situation threatens, in the event of a conflict, the very source of intragroup relations. In secondary groups, partial participation in the mass of non-accumulated conflicts acts as a mechanism that maintains the balance of the intragroup structure, thereby preventing its split along one line. Based on these provisions, L. Coser concludes that not only the intensity of the conflict affects the structure of the group, but also the nature of the group organization can influence the intensity of the conflict process.

Analyzing the social structure of American society, he comes to the conclusion that the interdependence of groups to some extent restrains the tendency for a fundamental split in the social system, although it does not exclude the presence of opposing interests. The flexibility of the social system, thanks to a tolerant attitude towards conflicts, makes it possible to directly express conflicting demands and thereby eliminate the source of discontent. The pluralism of conflict situations inherent in such a system makes it possible to eradicate the causes of internal disunity and restore social unity. In contrast, the more rigid the social system, the less institutional means it has to resolve social conflicts that have arisen.

L. Coser concludes: it is not the conflict as such that threatens the balance of the system, but its cruelty, which suppresses various kinds of tensions, which, when accumulated, can lead to an acute conflict concerning basic values, affecting the foundations of social harmony. Social conflict is a way of adequately adapting norms to changing conditions. A social structure in which there is a vengeance for conflict can avoid states of internal instability or modify these doubts by changing the existing balance of power positions.

Description of work

Sociologists of the 19th and early 20th centuries generally held the view, expressed in particular by Charles Cooley, that “in some way, conflict is an expression of the life of society and progress is achieved in the struggle in which individuals, classes and institutions try to realize their own idea of good."

FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL CONFLICT IN THEORY

L. KOZERA

M. Makienko (MSU named after)

Scientific hands ,

Art. teacher

Throughout its history, humanity has accumulated vast experience in both starting and resolving a wide variety of conflicts - from children’s quarrels to world wars.Social conflicts are objectively inevitable in any social structure, since they serve as a necessary condition for social development.

In the 50s of the twentieth century. There was a tendency towards a critical rethinking of the provisions of functionalism, and it was at this time that the sociology of conflict emerged as a special, independent direction of sociology. The American scientist L. Coser is considered one of the founders of this direction. .

L. Coser views conflict as an ideological phenomenon that reflects the feelings of social groups and individuals in the struggle for power, status, and income redistribution. Conflict is an essential element of social interaction. He gave the following definition of conflict: “We will understand conflict as a struggle over values ​​or a claim to limited status, power and resources. In this fight, the opponents' goals are to neutralize, damage, or eliminate opponents." .

In the conflict functionalism of L. Coser, with a multidimensional consideration of the main parameters of conflicts - severity, duration, intensity, etc. - still primary importance is attached to clarifying their functions. An extensive codification of the functions of social conflicts is given here.

The most important negative functions of conflict include:

Deterioration of the social climate, decrease in labor productivity, dismissal of some employees in order to resolve the conflict;

Inadequate perception and misunderstanding of each other by the conflicting parties;

Decreased cooperation between conflicting parties during and after the conflict;

A spirit of confrontation that draws people into struggle and makes them strive more to win at all costs than to solve real problems and overcome differences;

Material and emotional costs of conflict resolution;

The main positive functions of social conflict are:

Conflict does not allow the existing system of relations to freeze, ossify, it pushes it towards change and development, opens the way for innovations that can improve it;

It plays an informational and connecting role, since during the conflict its participants get to know each other better;

Conflict contributes to the structuring of social groups, the creation of organizations, and the rallying of teams of like-minded people;

It relieves the “submission syndrome” and stimulates people’s activity;

It stimulates the development of personality, the growth of people’s sense of responsibility, their awareness of their importance;

In critical situations that arise during a conflict, previously unnoticed advantages and disadvantages of people are revealed, conditions are created for assessing people by their moral qualities - fortitude, courage, etc., for the promotion and formation of leaders;

Initiating a conflict relieves underlying tension and gives it an outlet;

Conflict performs a diagnostic function (sometimes it is even useful to provoke it in order to clarify the situation and understand the state of affairs). [ 14 ; p.12 – 13] .

In the course and result of mutual collisions, people can test, get to know each other better and, as a result, come closer within the framework of some kind of community. According to L. Coser, mutual information, probing, mutual learning about each other contributes to the replacement of previously hostile interaction with a friendly one. But here L. Coser can be contrasted with the fact that additional information can shed light on the incompatibility of positions, further expose the irreconcilability of interests, which will further aggravate the conflict.

L. Koser also believes that confrontation with both external and internal enemies helps maintain group cohesion. If there is none, then he must be provoked. In his book The Functions of Social Conflict, he argues that the disappearance of initial enemies leads to the search for new ones so that the group can be in a constant state of conflict. Through this, the structure is maintained, which would be in danger if there were no more enemies.

Group conflict can prevent the impoverishment and breakdown of social orders and relationships. Conflict not only gives rise to new norms and new institutions, it is also a stimulant in the economic and technological spheres. Groups or systems that are not challenged are no longer capable of creative response. Based on the “Simmel Paradox,” according to which the most effective means of containing conflict is to ascertain the relative strength of the conflicting parties, L. Coser argues that if the strength of the enemy can be assessed before the actual conflict occurs, antagonistic interests can be resolved in a conflict-free manner. But where there are no means of preliminary measurement, only actual struggle will allow one to gain accurate knowledge of the comparative strength of the parties.

In general, L. Coser’s concept did not so much oppose structural functionalism as develop his ideas, taking them to a new level. At his instigation, the possibility of maintaining and establishing social structure through regulated conflict within and between groups began to be considered. The main merit of L. Coser was that the conflict was finally recognized as a normal, widespread and in many cases a positive social phenomenon.[ 23 ] .

early years

In 1936, in parallel with his work, he began attending classes at the Sorbonne. In 1948 he continued his sociological education and entered Columbia University. After completing it, he taught in Boston at Brandeis University. There he founded the Faculty of Sociology. In 1954 he defended his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University under the supervision of Robert Merton. In the period from 1964 to 1965 he headed the Eastern Sociological Society and the American Sociological Association in 1975-1976.

Main works

“People of Ideas” and “All-Absorbing Institutions” (the relationship between people and institutions); “Functions of Social Conflict” (detailed study of social conflicts); “Masters of Sociological Thought” (about the most outstanding masters of sociological thought).

Conflict theory

Lewis Coser's theory is based on positive functions. He believes that conflict is one of the main forms of social interaction. In addition, conflict is a process that, under any conditions, can include both destructive and constructive consequences.

The subject over which the vast majority of conflicts occur are actually existing social benefits, which are recognized as such by each party to the conflict. The main cause of the conflict is the scarcity of resources and violations of the principles of social justice in their distribution. The initiators of aggravation of these relations and bringing them to the stage of conflicts are most often representatives of any social groups who believe that they are socially disadvantaged. And the stronger their confidence in this, the more actively they begin to initiate conflicts, the more often they eventually turn them into illegal, violent forms.

Note 1

In general, his attention was aimed at finding the reasons why the conflict begins to maintain or restore the integration of the system and its adaptability to changing conditions. According to Lewis Coser, one of the main positive functions of conflict is its ability to defuse or relieve tension, the accumulation of which only aggravates relationships.

In addition, the conflict can perform such functions as:

• Communication and information;
• Binder.

Conflict unites people by the commonality of the situation, while allowing them to learn better about each other in the process of interaction.

In addition, Lewis Kozera identifies the following functions inherent in social conflict:

• Establishing community and cohesion;
• Finding the relative strength of interests in the structure;
• Creating a mechanism to support or equitably balance power;
• Creating associations and coalitions that will promote cohesion;
• Strengthening internal unity and much more.
• Stimulating social change.

Lewis Coser divides social conflicts into:

1. Realistic conflicts. This includes those conflicts for the resolution of which all the necessary prerequisites are present in society.
2. Unrealistic conflicts. Here the participants were captured by their own emotions and passions.

Note 2

Lewis Coser comes to a conclusion concerning the analysis of conflict at both the in-group and out-group levels and linking it to social structures, institutions and the social system. He says that the point is not the conflict itself, but the nature of the social structure and social system itself.

Lewis Coser is an American sociologist.

Lewis Coser's main contribution was that conflict was finally recognized as normal, widespread and, in many cases, a positive phenomenon.

Coser emphasized that "conflict is not always dysfunctional for the relationships within which it occurs; conflict is often necessary to achieve connections within the system." Conflict, according to Coser, serves to establish and preserve the identity of a particular society and determine its boundaries. Moreover, Coser noted precisely the functional significance of intrasocial conflicts, that is, “conflicts between different groups of the same society, for establishing and maintaining social unity.” Coser studied the basic functions of intrasocial conflicts and gave impetus to the development of modern anthropology.

Coser wrote several works, but the main one is considered to be “The Functions of Social Conflict.”

Coser defines conflict as a process that, under certain conditions, can “function” to preserve the “social organism.”

Coser developed a whole theoretical direction about the functions of conflict. Coser criticized Dahrendorf for not giving due importance to the positive functions of conflict. According to Coser, the conflict performs integrative and adaptive functions in the social system. Just like Simmel, Coser believes that the conflict contributes to maintaining the sustainability and vitality of the organization. Conflict can promote clearer boundaries between groups, promote centralization of decision-making, strengthen group unity, and strengthen social control.

Coser identifies “causal chains” that describe how conflict maintains or restores system integration and adaptability. This series of causal dependencies is as follows: 1) disruption of the integration of the constituent parts of the social system 2) leads to outbreaks of conflicts between the constituent parts, which in turn 3) causes temporary disintegration of the system, which 4) makes the social structure more flexible, which in turn 5) strengthens the system’s ability to get rid of imbalances that threaten it in the future with the help of conflict, and this leads to the fact that 6) the system reveals a high level of adaptability to changing conditions.

From the work “Functions of Social Conflict”:

Conflict clears the air

· conflicts can be realistic or non-realistic. When a conflict is used to achieve a goal, it is realistic, not realistic - there is no subject (pushed on a bus, etc.)

· conflicts are taken from hostile impulses that are inherent in people from birth; they exist as the opposite feeling of sympathy. Feelings of hatred and love are directed at one person.

The closer the relationship, the more intense the conflict

· conflict serves as an “exhaust valve” of tension;

· As a result of the conflict, people check each other, receive new information about the environment and learn their balance of power - thus fulfilling the communicative and information function

· confrontation helps the group to unite and not collapse in difficult times - a function of creation

· function of integration of social structure, i.e. conflict does not destroy integrity, but supports it;

· rule-making, i.e. conflict contributes to the creation of new forms and social institutions.

Biography

Born November 27, 1913 in Berlin. My father, a Jew by nationality, was a fairly wealthy banker. The young man’s childhood was cloudless until the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. Just shortly before this, the young man graduated from school and began to take an active part in the leftist movement. Seeing well where things were going and being already a formed personality, at the age of 20 he decided to leave his homeland and went to Paris.

The first years in the new place were spent by Coser in poverty and in constant search for income. Eating one-time earnings, he changed several professions, trying his hand both in physical labor (salesman-peddler) and in the field of mental labor (personal secretary of a Swiss writer). His ordeal ended in 1936 - he received the right to permanent work and got a job in the French representative office of an American brokerage firm.

In parallel with work, he began to attend classes at the Sorbonne. Having no special scientific predilections, I decided to study comparative literature only because, in addition to German, I also knew French and English. After several semesters, he began working on a dissertation comparing English, French and German short stories from the same time period. The highlight of this work was to be the study of the influence of the social structure of society on the formation of the specifics of a particular national literature. After Coser’s supervisor stated that issues of social structure were not within the purview of literary criticism but were the prerogative of sociology, the student changed his specialization and began attending lectures on sociology. Thus, almost by accident, the scientific field of the future great sociologist was determined.

In 1941 he was arrested by order of the French government as a native of Germany and placed in a labor camp in the south of France. This served as a serious argument in favor of emigration to the United States. On the advice of the emigration service, Coser changed his German name Ludwig to the more neutral Lewis. While preparing migration documents, he met Rosa Laub, an employee of the International Association for Refugees, who became his wife. The first time after Coser's arrival in the United States was spent working in various government commissions, including the military news department and the Department of Defense. For some time he was one of the publishers of the Modern Review magazine, which promoted leftist ideas, and also earned money by writing articles for newspapers.

In 1948, having received American citizenship, he decided to continue his sociological education and entered Columbia University. Soon he received an offer to become a teacher at the University of Chicago College in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Sociology. The period of work at the College of Chicago gave Coser the opportunity not only to deepen his knowledge of sociology, but also to become familiar with a variety of approaches and points of view.

After two years working in Chicago, he returned to New York to continue his education at Columbia University. After his completion, he taught in Boston at Brandeis University, where he founded the sociology department. In 1954 he completed his doctoral dissertation and defended it at Columbia University under the guidance of Robert Merton. Based on this dissertation, Coser's first book, The Functions of Social Conflict, was published in 1956.

The late 1940s - early 1950s were marked in the United States by the rise of McCarthyism - the persecution of adherents of more or less left-wing views. Given that Coser had always been prone to left-wing ideas, this situation sharply reduced his opportunities to publish. In order not to lose them at all, he, with the support of more than 50 other scientists, began publishing the magazine Dissident (Dissent), which is still the mouthpiece of the US left.

After working at Brandeis for 15 years, he moved to the State University of New York, where he worked until his retirement.

1960-1970 became the most fruitful period in Coser’s scientific activity. He wrote works exploring the relationship between people and institutions: Men of Ideas (1965) and Consuming Institutions (1974). Ten years after his first major work on the sociology of conflict, his second book on this topic was published - Further Studies of Social Conflict (1967). In addition, he published several books on the history of sociology - Georg Simmel (1965), Masters of Sociological Thought (1971) and Scholarly Refugees in America (1984).

He chaired the Eastern Sociological Society in 1964-1965, and the American Sociological Association in 1975-1976.

After retiring in 1987, Coser and his family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he died in 2003, just a few months shy of his 90th birthday.

Scientific activity

Representative of positive functionalism. Based on the ideas of Simmel, whom he translated and propagated in the USA, he made a significant contribution to the development of the theory of social conflict. Coser showed the beginning of the conflict to strengthen consensus.

Proceedings

• The Functions of Social Conflict (1956)
• Sociological Theory (1964)
• Men of ideas (1965)
• Political Sociology (1967)
• Continuities in the Study of Social Conflict (1967)
• Masters of Sociological Thought (1970)
• Greedy Institutions (1974)
• The Uses of Controversy in Sociology (1976)
• Refugee Scholars in America (1984)
• Conflict and Consensus (1984)