In chapter 8, “Intercultural Conflict,” the authors discuss the theoretical basis of conflicts, their definition, occurrence, classification, and solutions. The authors emphasize that conflict is an integral part of society and characterize it differently. In general, the conflict is defined in the chapter as a struggle between two incompatible opinions and ideas of people (Grothe, 2020). However, the authors also indicate that intercultural conflicts are often characterized by greater ambiguity, language problems, and conflict styles caused by different cultures.
Most of the features of one’s own culture, as a rule, are not recognized and taken for granted. Awareness comes only when meeting with representatives of other cultures when there is an interaction of different cultures, and their value orientations are revealed. In addition to cultural values, each representative of the cross-cultural community has a certain set of knowledge, subdivided in cognitive psychology into perceptual, conceptual, and procedural ones (Stahl et al., 2017). In these cases, situations of misunderstanding, confusion, impotence, and irritation arise.
Thanks to this knowledge, which exists as representations and images of consciousness and has equivalents in language words and their meanings, it is possible to communicate between people, primarily within the same culture. Mutual understanding in such a situation will be based on the commonality of consciousness of the communicants. The author gives an example of the incorrect use of the modal verb could or the conditional form would. From a semantic point of view, this can cause misunderstandings on the part of representatives of other cultures. As a result, casual rudeness can lead to cross-cultural conflict.
It is important to recognize that people and cultures deal with conflict differently for different reasons and that conflict styles favored in one culture may not work very well in another culture. Gender, ethnicity, and religion can influence how one deals with conflict (Grothe, 2020). Conflict can even arise over economic, political, and social issues. How such conflicts are resolved varies depending on the context and the individuals involved.
References
Grothe, T. (2020). Chapter 8. Intercultural conflict. In Exploring intercultural communication. Butte College.
Stahl, G., Miska, C., Lee, H.-J., & De Luque, M. (2017). The upside of cultural differences. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 24(1), 2–12.