VALUE CONFLICT AND ITS USEFULNESS IN ANALYZING SOCIAL PROBLEMS

A theoretical statement of a recommended model for analyzing soc problems (ie, soc conditions concerning which there is a conflict of values manifest either by overt conflict or symbolic conflict). Thus the interactional processes in a society (rather than some elite or expert diagnostician), define the problems. Several advantages of this model are claimed: (1) it relieves the student from the morally & practically dubious role of judge; (2) it helps to remove the obscurities of norm violation vs new norm formation; (3) it is applicable to the pluralistic as well as the more monolithic society; (4) it holds the analyst to a hard realism re actual value structures (as distinct from the idealized ones); & (5) it focuses on intergroup (& intervalue) conflict - who wants what & why & how? Disadvantages in this frame of reference are acknowledged: (A) value structures may be very complex & analysis may be taxing, (B) the public may focus on ephemeral & professionally `trivial' issues, & (C) solutions tend to emerge in modest dimensions. The recommended model is not in competition with others - it complements them. AA.