CONF 730: STRUCTURAL SOURCES OF CONFLICT

Habermas and Conflict Resolution

Rational moral and political discourse is made possible by intersubjectivity and mutual understanding in the public sphere of modern societies (p.39).

The systems of rules can be reconstructed according to which we produce complexes of interaction, the symbolic reality of society itself (p. 40).

Four validity claims exist in acts of linguistic communication; what we say is true, comprehensible; it is right (a nonnative basis); a sincere expression of the speaker's feelings; the background consensus between speaker and listener.

Four questions to ask at the back of every act of communication:

What do we mean?; is what you say is true?; are you entitled to say this?; do you really mean it?

Genuine consensus requires an unconstrained dialogue to which all speakers have equal access and in which only the force of the better argument prevails (the ideal speech situation)(p. 40).

The domain of factual truth is different from that of moral and expressive statements (p.4l ).

Consensus theory of truth:  truth-claims cannot be carried out by a direct comparison of utterances with reality; the alleged correspondence between true statement and reality can only be expressed in statements.

Intersubjective consensus can help achieve a rational from of life; 2) a rationally found consensus (judgements on 'murder is wrong); 3) truth relevant to ethical statements (the meaning of nonnative validity) (p.4l).

Discourses (p.42): Hermeneutic discourses concern questions of interpretation; Theoretical-empirical discourses are concerned about the validity of empirical claims and explanations;

There is the distinction between the genuinely communicative use of language and the inherent telos of human speech, and strategic (or success-oriented) speech (p. 45).

How could we understand the roles of speeches, situations and conditions in facilitation and mediation?

Speech acts classified in terms of the way they are intended by the speaker; expressive (experiential) and regulative (imperatives, intentional speeches, e.g. premises) speech acts.  The objective world, a nonnative world of legitimate social relations (a neutral attitude to facts in the world); a subjective world of feelings and attitudes.   Conversation includes argumentation as a form of communicative action (pp. 47-8) Legitimization Crisis (p. 63).

In liberal-capitalist social formations, an organizational principle is the relationship of wage labour and capital.

Class exploitation and class rule become anonymous and depoliticized (p. 65) Through ideology, societies are stabilized.

Ideology enters at the level of social integration into the constitution of societies (p. 65).

The economic system is responsible for social integration.

Economic crisis is a social crisis (pp. 65-6).

The interventionist welfare state is structurally depoliticised. Struggle over distribution is institutionalized.

The politicians are held responsible for the performance of the economic system ...crisis of management (p. 66).

The Theory of Communicative Action (p. 69).

The notions of communicative action is related to coming to agreement;

Communicative rationality is eroded by the market and administrative processes. Speakers can relate to;

1) the objective world of physical things;

2) the subjective world of inner experiences;

the actor's subjective world of needs and desires;

3) the social world of roles and norms

The four types of action ...

I) goal oriented action (a decision based on means-ends rationality);

2) utility maximizing;

3) relations between the actor and his or her objective world;

4) normative regulated action (action related to common values; comply with agreed norms, fulfilling agreed behavior expectations; functionalist role theory).

Communicative action involves interaction seeking to reach an understanding about their action situation and plans for coordinating their actions by way of agreement (p. 71).

Dramaturgical action involves the presentation of self.

The differentation of the social and subjective worlds from the objective world takes place in the background of the lifeworld and is a central process in its rationalization (p. 76).