Conflict Resolution India Is a Diverse Country Thesis

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Conflict Resolution

India is a diverse country in terms of religion. The Hindu population constitutes 828 million people (80%), the Muslim population constitutes million (13.5%), the Christian population constitutes 24 million (2.5%), the Sikh population constitutes 19 million (2%), while other religious groupings including Jains and Buddhists constitute 19.5 million. Religion is an important aspect of Indian political scene. Although India maintains that it is a secular nation, Indian politics has had a deep religious flavor at all times. This has resulted in religion being an important component of the identity of many Indians. There are many cases of religious identity being elicited in response to the communalism politics. Communalism connotes the functioning of organizations or religious communities, or the bodies which state they represent them, in a manner which is prejudices to the nation as a whole or interests of other groups. Historical evidence shows that communalism in the Republic of India arose as a result of the partisan imperialist forces' politics. For example, the available literature shows that communal identity amongst the Sikhs developed towards the end of the seventeenth century owing to their struggles throughout the Mogul rule in the Republic of India. In India's colonial times, the British made separate electorates for disparate religious communities. By doing so, they managed to effectively engineer the Muslim-Hindu divide in the nationalist movement. Ultimately, this contributed to the partition of India (Dalal, 2006).

This essay comparatively analyzes conflict style preferences in India. It concentrates particularly on the differences between the key religious groups in the country. The major history of India has been greatly influenced by both ethnic and religious conflict. Nonetheless, some communication-based study has resulted in a deeper understanding of the impact such a history has had on present-day India. As some scholars articulate in their works, most of the conflict communication studies center on Eastern or Western Asian geographic settings, with other places of the world being unexplored. This research is one of several endeavors to understand and look at the conflict style preferences linked to the two major religious groups in India (Muslims and Hindus). Some contributors of literature maintain that culture offers the context under which we are able to understand how and why conflict exists. In addition, culture can be of major influence on the success of communication in a conflict context. In a nation sharply divided along religious and political differences, knowledge pertaining what conflict styles are there and the factors linked to those preferences is of paramount importance (Dalal, 2006).

A discussion of the manner in which two specific and currently existing (contemporary) cultures approach the topic

In general, it is considered that India is a collectivistic, high-context nation. Nonetheless, besides the above cultural parameters that are conventionally examined in intercultural communication, it is also possible for religion to have an influence on conflict styles. In India, two major religions exist: Hinduism and Islam. Both have significant effects on Indian politics and culture. This includes conflicts that occur all over the country. Some researchers have indicated that religion in India has a tendency to play a leading role in conflict. This has also been influenced by the latest trends towards fundamentalism. In an article on interreligious/interfaith peace creating efforts, attention is drawn attention to the roles - both destructive and positive - that religion has in conflict. Thus, it is necessary to understand if there are wide trends between Hindus and Muslims populating India (Avruch, 2003).

The Muslim world has gotten better attention when a macro level analysis is conducted through conflict and peace studies. However, it has not been studied enough in conflict style research. As a result, Muslims across the globe have been considered collectivistic and established on the contrary to the Western civilization. Major studies assert that productive conflict resolution necessitates attending to the "Attitudes, beliefs, history and customs" within Islamic culture that act as important models for conflict transformation. Nonetheless, Muslims and Islam are considered "others." Moreover, the Muslim world is regarded as one-dimensional (for instance, every Muslim is labeled "Arab" even though it is just a very small Muslims minority who are Arab). Not much has been done to create distinctions between the numerous cultural and geographic differences that are there in the Islam world. Muslims throughout many locations have been exposed to colonization a good number of times, which has created experiences specific to such contexts in which people have to react. Every disparate subculture to which Muslims belong has its own traditions and values.

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These form distinct interpretations of the five major conflict styles identified above. In Islam, conflict is seen as very negative and detrimental. This is likely to alter the conflict style types that Muslims tend to prefer (Avruch, 2001).

Even though Islam does not have such an organized caste system, Muslims' culture is greatly influenced by the Hindu castes. As the country's second biggest religious population, Muslims have oftentimes been seen as a challenge to Hindus and their caste system. With regard to Islam, little research has been there to establish the connection between conflict styles and Hinduism. Nonetheless, a number of sources have accentuated the conflict that is there within the members of the Hindu caste system (Avruch, 2001).

Counting mechanisms that were used during the colonial period established the "differences" between the Hindu society's four castes. This in turn induced individual religious identities of the people with more substance. As the Indian society expanded, the tradition-inclined religious identities of the people were strengthened. When people were placed in one caste or another, they were encouraged to hold fast to their identities. Since the castes have considered clearly different from each other, there is an increasing opportunity for conflict (Avruch and Wang, 2005).

A Comparison of the Effect of Education across Both Cultures

Education Effect on the Avoiding Conflict Style as a function of Religion and Sex

Education has a more significant impact for Hindus as compared to Muslims. Lower education makes Muslims tend to have a higher preference for avoiding. A higher education makes Muslims tend to have a lower preference for avoiding. The reverse is true for Muslims. Nonetheless, females have a higher tendency for avoiding than males. The gender gap felt more amongst the Hindus (Gupta, 2007).

Education Effect on the Compromising Conflict Style as a function of Religion and Sex

Education has a more significant effect for Hindus as compared to Muslims. Low education for Muslims makes the tendencies for compromising higher. A higher education reverses the situation. For Hindus, there is more preference for compromising when education is higher. Females have higher tendencies for compromising as compared to males. This gender gap is felt more amongst the Hindus (Gupta, 2007).

Age Effect on the Dominating Conflict Style as a Function of Religion and Sex

During the low ages, sex is more important than religion. Males from the two religions tend to prefer dominance more than females. Additionally, there is no effect of religion amongst the females. At more advanced ages, religion tends to more effect than gender. Muslims tend to show higher tendencies to prefer dominance compared to Hindus. Males Muslims tend to be more dominating than females. The gender gap is felt more among the Hindus. Age has a negative effect for Hindus but positive impact on dominating for Muslims (Gupta, 2007).

Education Effect on the Integrating Conflict Style as a Function of Religion and Sex

Education has a bigger effect for Muslims as compared to Hindus. Less educated female Hindus are seen to prefer integrating. However, male and female Hindus who have attained a higher education have a tendency to prefer integrating as compared to Muslims. Females have a higher tendency to opt for integrating as compared to males. The gender gap is bigger amongst Hindus (Gupta, 2007).

Education Impact on the Obliging Conflict Style as a Function of Religion and Sex

Education has a more significant impact for Hindus as compared to Muslims. Lesser educated Muslims are more likely to prefer obliging as compared to Hindus. However, very highly educated female Hindus prefer obliging more. Males are less obliging compared to females. This gender gap is larger amongst Hindus (Gupta, 2007).

Analysis

Conflict in India has had a long history. What has influenced it is the competing political interests, large population, colonialism, manifold cultures all within a single nation, diverse geography and a caste system made to accentuate differences. The Hindus and Muslims are the two biggest religious groups in India. It is of extreme importance to identify with the conflict styles towards which individuals from both religions move toward. Nonetheless, it is also imperative to know the particular characteristics that influence a person within these bigger groups in leaning toward a single style over others. This research tried to understand individual influences and cultural differences on individuals' preferable conflict styles (Leung and Kim, 2007).

Ethnic Group Vitality

Muslims have a lesser tendency to prefer a dominating conflict style as compared to Hindus......

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