Modern Conflict Theory Research Articles

The Sociological Implication of State Creation in Nigeria And The Means of Resolving The Unforeseen Dispute

The paper examines the Sociological Implication of State Creation in Nigeria and the Means of Resolving the Unforeseen Dispute. State creation in a Federation is primarily aimed at promoting unity in diversity particularly among the various ethnic groups in a heterogeneous country such as Nigeria. The creations of states are also aimed at resolving boundary disputes and promote national development. However, the multiplication of states on the other hand, translates to the multiplication of administrative agencies particularly the bureaucracy. The constant increase in the number of these administrative agencies no doubt has a lot of consequences for their viability, crises, effectiveness and efficiency. This is because it weakens the administrative capacities of these bureaucracies since their existence and indeed their survival in terms of finances depends almost entirely on the central government. This paper infers that the exercise of uncontrolled creation of more states in Nigeria requires radical reorientation coupled with strong sociological/political will for public bureaucracies at the state level to be able to meet their developmental and efficiency goals. In the course of this study, the Sociological Implication of State Creation and The Means of Resolving the unforeseen Dispute in Nigeria were brought to the fore while the objectives of the study are well spelt out. Hypotheses were postulated and the Modern Conflict Theory was used to explicate the works. Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. From the primary sources, the survey method, that is, the use of questionnaire designed and adopted. Data obtained from this method were analyzed with the aid of Simple Percentage. Thereafter, the five researchable hypotheses were tested and accepted while the null hypotheses were rejected. The implication is that there was relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Generally, the paper brought to focus that the Sociological Implication of State Creation and the Means of Resolving the unforeseen Crises is a collective effort in reaching a compromise in the management of Nigeria Political and Sociological affairs and it has contributed immensely to the growth and development of crises management else-where. The paper painstakingly appraises many of these issues and concludes that all stakeholders in the federal polity should thread softly, be objective, rational, altruistic and magnanimous in order not to make the existence of true federalism (sociological, political and economic cohesive existence of the people, peace and tranquility) a fleeting illusion and a mirage. Keywords: State, Ethnic, Politics, Bureaucracy, Crises, Creation DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/67-04 Publication date: February 28 th 2022

Putting the Social Work Academy on the Couch: Exploring Emotional Resistance to Psychoanalytic Education

ABSTRACTPsychoanalytic social work scholars lament the marginalization of psychodynamic theory in contemporary social work academia. Modern conflict theory applied to social work theories of pathogenesis and cure can serve as a means to explore this marginalization. Unconscious fantasy is important for understanding the resistance to psychodynamic theory in social work education. I offer some psychoanalytically informed strategies that might begin to restore psychodynamic theory in mainstream social work academia.

Intersubjectivity and modern conflict theory.

Intersubjectivity and modern conflict theory.

Castration Depression: Affect, Signal Affect, and/or Depressive Illness?

The value of Charles Brenner's ideas regarding depression is assessed, focusing on the significance of castration depressive affect. His discussion of whether depression is an affect, a signal affect, or an illness is examined, with special emphasis on his failure to sufficiently address depression as an illness or disorder as defined by psychiatry. Clinical material from the analysis of a man who suffers from severe depression suggests that incorporating psychiatric concepts (biological and pharmacological) with modern conflict theory can be a useful way to understand and treat some patients with depression. Theoretical and clinical controversies associated with combining psychiatric/biological and psychoanalytic views of depression are examined.

The Jukun and their Neighbours since the Pre-colonial Period

This article examines the patterns of inter-group relations in the middle belt region of Nigeria and focuses on Jukun’s historic relations with other ethnic groups such as the Tiv, the Hausa-Fulani, the Chamba, the Kuteb, the Nupe and the Igala from the purview of modern conflict theory and the ethno-consensus theory of inter-group relations. It argues that the Jukun right from the pre-colonial period succeeded in maintaining vibrant inter-group relations with their numerous neighbours and that though the patterns of these relations were sometimes violent and conflictual, at the same time there were periods of co-operation and mutual cohesion. The paper underscores the fact that socio-economic relations were the major pivots upon which pre-colonial inter-group relations and diplomacy revolved in the middle belt region.

Sexual and Aggressive Conflicts in an Adolescent Girl: Discussion of Dr. Alvarez's Case Presentation

From the perspective of modern conflict theory, greater emphasis might have been placed on a variety of sexual and aggressive conflicts whose presence were suggested in the material presented by Dr. Alvarez. Included among these possibilities are: conflicts about menarche, guilt-inspired fears of punishment associated with sexual maturation and participation, and with competitive wishes in respect to other women, as well as concerns about genital anatomy and damage. A technical question is also raised about the way the analyst's clinical intuition is employed in response to dreams and symptoms. Finally, it is suggested that analytic attention to somatic symptoms ought to be deployed more cautiously than in the fashion described in this presentation.

Unconscious Fantasy and Modern Conflict Theory

This article traces the evolution of the concept of unconscious fantasy from its origins in Freud's early clinical writings to its place in the theory and practice of modern conflict theory. The central role played by Arlow's clarification of the ubiquitous influence of unconscious fantasy life on aspects of normal mental functioning such as perception, memory, thinking, and reality testing is highlighted. Some contemporary clinical applications of our understanding of unconscious fantasies are added to the long familiar awareness of its role in symptom formation.

Therapeutic Action in Modern Conflict Theory

Recognizing that principles of psychoanalytic technique and conceptions of the analytic treatment process follow from the theory of therapeutic action to which they are linked, the author notes the difficulty of coming up with such a theory in relation to modern conflict theory. After reviewing Freud’s initial descriptions of psychoanalytic theory and technique, as well as his later elaborations and modifications, the author summarizes the contributions of Freud’s analytic contemporaries and traces the emergence of later theoretical variability in the field. He then presents an overview of recent developments in the theory of therapeutic action, discussing in particular the contributions of Arlow, Brenner, and Gray.

Conflict in Relational Treatments

Various features of relational perspectives on conflict are outlined. Points of contact and difference between relational and modern conflict theory are discussed. Five approaches to considering conflict are examined: countertransference conflict as the site of interfaces between the social and the intrapsychic; conflict within the register of speech; conflict within a theory of multiple identifications; conflict as the site of psychic change; and conflict in the context of intersubjectivity. Clinical vignettes are introduced to illustrate the scope and function of conflict within one relational perspective.

The ego revisited.

This article reviews and critiques the ego concept. Except for the modern conflict theorists, most schools of contemporary psychoanalytic thought tend to eschew metapsychology and the concept of the ego. The author reviews modern conflict theory and the functions of metapsychology and the ego. Conflict theorists assert that their approach bears little resemblance to Freud’s drive reduction model. Current theory focuses on conflict, bodily urges, unconscious fantasy, and defense but also views developmental issues, reality pressures, and interpersonal interactions as important. The author argues that conflict theorists incorporate the old metabiology into their formulations. He uses evidence from evolutionary biology, psychological science, and systems theory to suggest that the ego be viewed as a self-generating process, functioning within evolutionary constraints and capable of reacting to contingent circumstances in a selfenhancing fashion. Finally, he discusses the implications of this view on the clinical controversies surrounding the role and function of neutrality.

The "incompatible idea" revisited: the oft-invisible ego-ideal and shame dynamics.

The observation that incompatibility with conscience initiates deployment of defense goes back to Freud's conceptualization of the "incompatible idea" put forward in Studies on Hysteria. In this view, consciousness itself, insofar as it gives rise to painful affect resulting from conflict with the conscience, is the cornerstone for dynamic thinking, first as regards repression of traumatic memory and later for dynamic thinking generally. Subsequent discoveries about the conscience tended to give rise to pars pro toto thinking in which the new discovery replaced rather than added to the basic notion of conscience. Such pars pro toto imbalance exists in full force in psychoanalytic thinking today: Modern conflict theory privileges the postoedipal retaliative aspect of the conscience, as Kleinian thinking does for the preoedipal projective aspects of retaliation. Neither conceptualizes shame adequately. Kohut appreciated the role of shame, but discarded the notion of incompatibility with the ego-ideal. The incompatible idea model still provides an all-inclusive model for conceptualizing the conscience in the context of intrapsychic conflict.

From Ego Psychology to Psychoanalysis in the Year 2000: One Analyst's Journey

Challenged by clinical findings and necessity, psychoanalysts proceed on a lifelong professional journey of exploring, deleting, adding, and integrating from various theoretical and technical paradigms. This article briefly depicts one analyst's journey from ego psychology in the early 1970s to the year 2000. The emphasis on retaining early valuable tenets and adding new theoretical and technical concepts. As an example, conflicts involving problems of the self and ego ideal, brought to the fore through work with patients having significant self-esteem, shame, and envy difficulties, are singled out. These conflicts are found in cases such as those with anorexia, body image disturbance, gender identity and negative gender message problems, and cases having early denigrating environments. Shame dynamics are addressed. The presenting pictures for problems involving shame are usually new compromise formations prompted by signal shame. A case is reported to depict the use of modern conflict theory in analyzing such problems.

Back to Basics: The Psychoanalytic Conceptualization of Motivation

Reconsideration of motivation, a fundamental concept in psychoanalytic theory, engages us with basic assumptions and postulates of our field and draws us to the borders with neighboring scientific elaborations of the design, structure, and function of the mind. This paper presents a concept of motivation from a perspective in modern conflict theory and correlates this concept with current thinking in evolutionary biology. The challenges that this correlation raises for all psychoanalytic approaches to motivation are discussed. Natural selection has fundamentally organized motivation in accord with the principle of inclusive fitness. Adaptive motivations of self-interest achieved through social success are paramount. In mind sciences there is a growing appreciation of the innately modular mind with mounting evidence for domain and content-specific evolved psychological mechanisms, the modern term for instincts. In regard to motivation in modern conflict theory, evolved mechanisms and predispositions are innately linked to pleasure–unpleasure and include, importantly, motivations of self-interest. The pleasure–unpleasure principle regulates motivation throughout life. Early mother–child interactions are vital to the development and contextualization of motivation; however, these interactions themselves depend on mutually coadapted mechanisms that give vectors and impose constraints on every primary relationship. In evading innate contributions there is a danger of embarking on a new creationist paradigm.

Passions in girls and women: toward a bridge between critical relational theory of gender and modern conflict theory.

This paper considers (1) some aspects of the lack of dialogue among psychoanalytic schools; (2) Brenner's (1982) conception of drives and drive derivatives as inextricably linked to relationships, and some of its less-appreciated implications; (3) the debate over the importance of childhood sexuality in mental life; (4) the attempts by relational theorists to address and reintegrate the role of sexuality and gender, particularly in the study of feminine psychology; (5) the problematic role of aggression in psychoanalytic theories of women; (6) the avoidance by both men and women of women's passions and their anatomical loci, especially the clitoris, whose only function is the provision of pleasure; and (7) the suggestion that an integrated theory, including an understanding of the role of the body as well as of the passions and the defenses against them, results in the most effective clinical psychoanalytic approach. It then suggests that a bridge could be built between a relational point of view that takes into consideration the role of bodily experiences, and a classical point of view in which drive is seen as inextricably linked to relationships from birth on.

Scientific Meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis-Passion in Girls and Women: Toward a Bridge Between Critical Relational Theory of Gender and Modern Conflict Theory

Scientific Meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis-Passion in Girls and Women: Toward a Bridge Between Critical Relational Theory of Gender and Modern Conflict Theory

A Neo-Marxian Critique, Formulation and Test of Juvenile Dispositions as a Function of Social Class

First, this research challenges the methodological adequacy of previous juvenile disposition studies, particularly their conceptualization and measure of social class. Second, a neo-Marxian theory of juvenile court dispositions is presented. This theory distinguishes between two offense patterns (traditional crimes against person and property and crimes against the moral order, status and victimless offenses) in terms of their relative impact on the social relations of production, subsequently revealing distinct disposition trends. Finally, a multivariate test of two propositions derived from this neo-Marxian theory is provided. The findings support the present neo-Marxian theory of juvenile disposition sentencing concerning the strength of greater social class discriminatory tendencies in the disposition of moral as opposed Until recently, one of the most widely accepted empirical generalizations in the sociology of crime and juvenile delinquency was the proposition that severity of disposition is negatively related to social class (or socioeconomic status). This proposition appears in a host of criminological texts crossing otherwise competing paradigms. For example, class discrimination in the administration of justice is an essential proposition of the labeling perspective (cf. Wellford, 1975), modern conflict theory (Turk, 1969; Quinney, 1970; Chambliss and Seidman, 1971) and critical criminology (Taylor et al., 1973, 1975; Quinney, 1975, 1977). Thus, it is with some alarm that advocates of these theories face an accumulated body of evidence which casts doubt on the validity of the claim of class biased dispositions. The narrow empirical base of this proposition has been reexamined by Hagan (1974a) and by Wellford (1975), and neither found a strong relationship between severity of disposition and stratification variables. More recently, Lizotte (1978) found a weak indirect relationship (explaining less than one percent of the variance) between occupational prestige and length of prison sentence. Lizotte's analysis of a subsample of white proprietors suggests strongly favorable discrimination in length of sentence. However, most research on socioeconomic bias in the criminal justice system demonstrates no statistically significant relationship whatsoever (cf. Terry, 1967; Hagan, 1974b; Cohen, 1975; Chiricos and Waldo, 1975). It would seem, then, that the labeling theorists, the conflict theorists, and the neo-Marxian critical theorists are faced with a significiant anomaly. What then is to be done in the face of this challenge? Rather than indulge in dialectical gamesmanship, such as disclaiming the very possibility of testing Marxian hypotheses with bourgeois methodology (cf. Reasons, 1977), we challenge the methodological adequacy of previous studies, present a neo-Marxian theory of juvenile dispositions and provide a multivariate test of two propositions derived from this theory. Among radical criminologists, only Schwendinger and Schwendinger (1976) and Greenberg (1977a) have attempted to provide a Marxist interpretation of juvenile delinquency in capitalist societies; and prior to this study the criminalization processes have been ignored.'