RELATIVIZATION OF THE CONFLICT SPACE

摘要

The "activity-organizational model" represents conflict as a type of social interaction, destructive counter-action, and opposes it to competition, a constructive counter-action. According to the model, the cause of a conflict should be found among the social paradigms that determine the process and structure of counter-actions. Compatibility of the opponents' paradigms permits them to play the same "game" in the shared interaction "space." This suggests that transformation of the paradigmatic basis of interaction can be used as a primary means for conflict management and resolution. Obviously, such transformation is possible only if both sides of a conflict perceive its basis as relative. Therefore, problem-solving relativization of the paradigmatic basis of a conflict is a prerequisite for application of the activity-organizational model and the first step in the strategy for conflict resolution. It is accepted that relativization of a conflict's basis is impossible if the opponents assign to it the meaning of fundamental beliefs. Usually such meaning is associated with theo-ethno-national values that are considered absolute and unquestionable. These conflicts become non-manageable and chronic. In such cases, the first step of relativizing the paradigm should be separation of the dimensions of the conflict space: a fundamental dimension (sacral or absolute) should be made orthogonal to all other relative (profane) dimensions. The idea is to narrow down the sacral space as much as possible and drive it out of the social counter-action, thus, opening the door for mutual relativization of the paradigms. A relevant methodology for mutual relativization of the paradigms could be a reversible constructive discourse, where each side of a conflict plays the role of a "co-editor" of the opponent's relative space paradigm.