ve and trust are willing to resolve conflicts that do not in the long term mean too much. That scenario does not repeat itself everywhere. Social conflicts can occur when neither party can see nor wants to see the resolution. Some fights are not based on trivial matters. For example, we have the unresolved black-white supremacy battle. It has not been made any better in two hundred years, when we can estimate the contact between the two to have begun. Efforts have been made, but the conflict between white and black is not something that, I think, will ever evaporate. It is a deep-rooted cultural conflict. This type of conflict can manifest itself in many ways. We see it every day in America’s truly cosmopolitan society: skin color; accent differences and so on and so on. I myself have plenty of first hand experience with this particular category, as I have lived ‘abroad’ for over nine years. One thing that has dogged my family and me is the fact that Indian cooking generates a lot of smoke. Thick, filmy smoke that always fills a room, no matter the length of time cooking was done. Often, cultural conflicts bring about racial slurs in our everyday language. Whether it is the British deriding the foolish Irishman - or the French doing the same to a remarkably ‘Irish’ sounding Belgian - these slurs can become a routine and the conflict can escalate beyond mere remarks and can hurt a person quite deeply. Over time, cultural differences can lead to aggravation at a larger level than a passing comment in a corridor, just as the examples of the Irish and the Belgians have. We all know how feelings of inferiority can lead to insubordination. In the same way as fights with parents and friends, culture clashes can also lead to better relationships. So you see, both positive and negative aspects of social conflict can co-exist. Social commentators have often claimed that it would indeed be a dull wor...
