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31.10.2018 Sitzung 1
07.11.2018 Sitzung 2
24.11.2018 Blocktermin 1
08.12.2018 Blocktermin 2
Module “Conflict and Cooperation”
Seminars “Social-psychological perspectives” and “Reducing conflicts and enhancing cooperation”
In the winter term 2018/19, Felicia Pratto from the University of Connecticut is joining the University of Koblenz-Landau as a visiting professor. Prof. Pratto has contributed in important ways to theory-building and empirical findings on conflict and cooperation between social groups. She is best known for her work on Social Dominance Theory.
Her visit gives us the opportunity to offer more seminars in this module than we normally could. For students who could not get into the seminar in the winter term 2017/18, this is an option to still do (parts of) the module. We have decided to teach two parallel integrated block seminars that encompass both “Social-psychological perspectives” and relevant applications for “Reducing conflicts and enhancing cooperation.” Prof. Pratto will teach one seminar in English, and Prof. Steffens will teach a parallel seminar in German during the same time slots.
The Course Topic:
Conflict and cooperation are important aspects of social coordination among individuals in small groups such as families, social or political organizations, and work groups. They are also often an issue in relations between larger and even “fictive” socially-constructed groups (such as nations, genders), especially when intergroup relations are unequal, cold (unfriendly), threatening, or in open conflict. The topic of conflict and cooperation gives us the opportunity to apply interpersonal, intergroup, and power theories to understand the origin and nature of problematic intergroup relations, why people or groups might not want to cooperate and the results that has, and methods for encouraging cessation of hostilities and developing cooperation. For each social-psychological theory, students will read or develop applications to conflict reduction and enhancing (intergroup) cooperation.
There are many specific intergroup relations we can address in the course, such as men and women (gender groups); inhabitants of two towns; Israelis and Palestinians; native Germans and refugees; Europeans from the south, from the west, from the north, and from the east; politicians of different parties; former colonies and former colonial nations; nations and international alliances and non-state actors, university students and professors. Such different intergroup relations have different features: Do the groups differ in power, and if so, what kind of power? Which group has more public status (respectability), economic resources, members, allies, enemies? When and why do people identify or disidentify with the groups? What is the group’s history is and how does that matter now? What kinds of prejudice and stereotypes does each group claim for itself and for another group? Are there more than two important groups or factions involved? Does each group need the other equally? An analysis of these questions provides a basis for examining conflict and cooperation as well as relevant interventions to improve intergroup relations.
Course Requirements:
The seminar involves reading, critically responding, and discussing, about 25 primary sources concerning theory, empirical studies, with related narrative examples. Like typical seminars at U.S. universities, most of the total course time is devoted to reading and to writing. At the beginning of the semester, two “regular” time slots are used to introduce the concept in detail, the literature, and what is expected of students. During the first weeks of the semester, every week students should reserve a lot of time for reading and delivering several different writing exercises (e.g., summarizing papers, stating their opinions, elaborating strengths and weaknesses of theories, etc.). That way, students will establish a strong knowledge base. Using this preparation, students in the block sessions will critically discuss theories and findings and apply them to various specific conflictual intergroup relations. Students will also participate in some group exercises.
As their major course project, (groups of) students will produce a practical or theoretical product. The practical project can take one of several forms: (1) to design an intervention to address a particular intergroup problem for an institution (e.g., business or government agency or school) such as sexual harassment or ethnic discrimination, (2) to develop a communication (e.g., website or blog or video) to educate the public about an intergroup issue and ways to address it, (3) a proposed study design, or (4) a small research project using secondary data analysis. The theoretical product can be (5) a paper criticizing or extending one or more theory from the course, (6) a “Wikipedia”-type page that uses social psychological research and/or theory to address a current social issue, (7) a novel paper that brings a new approach to bear on a conflict or cooperation situation, such as using a gender theory to some intergroup arena that largely has ignored gender.
We expect that most students will additionally write a paper (“Hausarbeit”) as the module exam in the second half of the semester.
Learning Goals:
Students will be able to distinguish between concepts that are sometimes confused (such as stereotyping and prejudice, authority and leader, power and status).
Students will learn the most important theories in intergroup relations and understand a range of real-world intergroup problems.
Students will develop their abilities to understand empirical research papers, including their aims, methods, results, and conclusions, and to evaluate the authors’ conclusions.
Students will improve their fluency in expressing ideas orally and in writing.
Students’ imaginations will grow as they extend theories and research findings to practical problems.
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