Avoidance and resolution of conflict in societies without central power. Socio-theoretical models based on ethnographic evidence and their relevance in archaeology
Sociological Theory
Final Report Abstract
The project was based on ethnographic documentations of how conflicts are dealt with in societies without centralized power. During the case analyses, three focal points emerged that were important for transfer to prehistoric societies due to their generalizability. Firstly, the dynamic of negative reciprocity, the alternating asymmetry of mutual harm between the conflict parties. Negative reciprocity is not merely a derivative or a phenomenon of decay of positive reciprocity but is of equal origin with it; both are manifestations of an underlying, universal structural reciprocity. This is based on the cognitive capacity for recursion, which means that a sequence of actions or interactions repeatedly initiates itself. If such a dynamic cannot be authoritatively halted due to the lack of a central authority, there are two options for dealing with negative reciprocity: On the one hand, attempts to divert their dynamics away from their own party and direct them towards an entity that is itself incapable of taking revenge (this would be the scapegoat mechanism), or on the other, a conversion of negative reciprocity into positive reciprocity – the structure remains the same, but the content changes. Secondly, this points to the importance of a third person or authority located outside the immanence of the conflict dynamics, who is able to make the hopelessness of their actions clear to those involved, because subjectively they want to end the dynamic with their next action, but objectively they continue this dynamic with this very action. In the project, the focus was on figurations of the third party which are ignored by the classical typologies in their focus on role descriptions of personal and singular third parties: partial third parties, collectively constituted third parties and “invisible”, i.e. imagined, fictitious, absent, or anticipated third parties. The third focus was on the significance of material culture in the context of conflict resolution, which is particularly relevant at three sequential points in conflict management: Initially, when defining and setting up the situation, for instance through a certain spatial arrangement or through objects that represent the normative setting; then in the course, in which objects can illustrate the transformation from negative to positive reciprocity; and finally at the end, when it comes to symbolizing the achieved result in a concise and lasting way.
Publications
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Konfliktvermeidung und Konfliktbeilegung in Gesellschaften ohne Zentralgewalt. Negative Reziprozität, Konfigurationen des Dritten und die Bedeutung materieller Kultur. In: M. Jung (Hrsg.), Konfliktvermeidung und Konfliktbeilegung in Gesellschaften ohne Zentralgewalt. Würzburger Studien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie 9 (Würzburg: Würzburg University Press 2024) 11–121
M. Jung
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Konfliktvermeidung und Konfliktbeilegung in Gesellschaften ohne Zentralgewalt. Würzburger Studien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie 9 (Würzburg: Würzburg University Press 2024)
M. Jung (Hrsg.)
