Cultural Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Abstract

This chapter focuses on culture, conflict, and conflict resolution. Social work actively engages culture in micro, meso, and macro settings. Social workers, especially those on the international front, should be competent in cross-cultural intervention and conflict resolution. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first addresses culture, culture in context, and cultural competence. The second focuses on conflict resolution, alternative dispute resolution, and the management of cultural conflict. There are many types of culture conflicts, such as interpersonal and community conflict, conflicts between subcultures, class conflict, and ethnic conflict. Social workers in multicultural societies and a globalized world need to be well versed in both principles and skills of mediation and conflict management. Conflict and culture are tools for social change: Conflict provides the impetus for change and culture adjusts to a more functional way of relating and adapting to the social environment.