The widespread perception of conflict as something negative or abnormal is not shared by anthropology. Conflict is rather seen as regularly occurring and socially organized. Organized conflict in its nondestructive forms is a condition for the differentiation and expression of interest as well as for endogenous social change and the processing of exogenous stimuli of transformation. The self-stabilization of social systems and social change could not be analyzed without giving central attention to conflicts and their organization. The contingency of action which differentiates human beings from (other) animals requires casting conflict into forms as a condition for social life. Neither description nor prognosis are possible if conflict and its organization were not analyzed. Conflicts can be classified in respect of their stronger or weaker social embedding and in respect of the higher or lower incidence of violence in a field with four extreme types: the strongly embedded forms of warring and procedure and the weakly embedded ones of destruction and avoidance.
