Participation, Control, and Dominance in Communication Between Groups in Conflict: Analysis of Dialogues Between Jews and Palestinians in Israel

Abstract

This study investigates how dominance and control are conveyed in the features of the discourse in structured encounters between two groups in conflict. The study focuses on a series of encounters between members of the Palestinian minority and members of the Jewish majority in Israel. These encounters were designed to bring about better understanding between the sides, and were led by two (one Jew and one Palestinian) professional group facilitators. There is a significantly unequal distribution of resources between Jews and Palestinians in Israel, with the Jewish majority having more control over and more access to social, political, and economic resources. Based on theories of procedural justice and the role of process control, the present study seeks to examine the extent to which this inequality in control and dominance is also manifested in the features of discourse within the encounter. Two indicators are used to identify manifestations of dominance and control within the discourse. The first is based on the gross amount of talk of group members and involves the distribution of conversational turns among participants. The second indicator involves controlling or challenging questions addressed by each group to members of its own group and to members of the other group. Extracts from transcripts of meetings are analyzed to compare frequencies of turn taking and the distribution of controlling questions among Jewish and Palestinian participants.