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Anthropology Professor Presents First 1999-2000 Distinguished Lecture |
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Fidelity Executive Discusses Business Ethics with MBA Students |
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Distinguished Visitor Discusses Inter-Ethnic Conflict |
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Morton Deutsch of Columbia University, long a pioneer in the field of conflict resolution, visited UMass Boston November 3 to give a well-attended talk to an audience from all parts of the University community. According to David Matz, director of UMass Boston's Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution, Deutsch's "writings are central to almost every curriculum" in his field, and "his thinking has influenced much of its major research."
Deutsch's wide-ranging survey of current views of inter-ethnic conflict&emdash;which is partly summarized below&emdash;was marked both by acknowledgments of difficulties and by suggestions of avenues for hope. "There is evil, and you have to deal with it," he said. But it must also be recognized that "not everyone who gets entrapped in a malignant process is evil."
Intergroup conflict grows destructive when one group perceives that its survival is threatened by another group, said Deutsch. There is less potential for such conflict when groups perceive that their well-being is improving, and when they perceive that they are competing with others under fair rules (e.g., through strong democratic institutions).
When a group excludes others from its "moral community," it can treat them immorally according to the standards it applies to itself, as in Bosnia and Rwanda. What social conditions lead to exclusion from moral communities? What psychological mechanisms? What determines which groups are likely to be excluded? These are critical questions.
Reconciliation between groups is not fostered by forgetting wrongs or failing to punish them. But it does require each group's acceptance of the other into its moral community. Needed are physical and psychological security&emdash;understood as a mutual goal&emdash;and a process that helps both victims and victimizers recognize shared human qualities.
Self-identity is involved in all conflict. But groups need not feel superior to others to feel self-esteem. Nor does conflict preclude feelings of common identity. "It's not inherently contradictory to be Jewish and American, Irish and American&emdash;and to feel both strongly," said Deutsch.
Resolving conflict often requires more than changes of attitude; changes in power structures are also necessary. Deutsch opposes using conflict resolution techniques merely to secure a status quo by reducing tension. Attitudinal and social change are reciprocal: each requires the other.
A recurring theme in Deutsch's talk was the distinction between destructive and constructive conflict. In his view, destructive conflict is overemphasized in the study of intergroup relations. Because most groups manage to cooperate even when they are also in conflict, they achieve a kind of conflict that bears fruit in individual and social change. And so Deutsch urges his colleagues to work toward greater knowledge of these successes.
Morton Deutch's visit, which included additional discussions with dispute resolution faculty and students, was sponsored by the Benjamin and Sylvia Slomoff Fund.