The Behavior of Culture . . . Courtesy of Donald Black

2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 652
Author(s):  
Karen A. Cerulo ◽  
Donald Black
Keyword(s):  
Donald Black

scholarly journals When Will Academics Contest Intellectual Conflict?

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311771309
Author(s):  
Mark Cooney ◽  
Scott Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Functional Space ◽  
Potential Change ◽  
Lower Elevation ◽  
Donald Black ◽  
Do So

Academics have conflicts over ideas with some regularity, yet they contest only some of them. When will they do so? We draw on a theory of conflict management developed by Donald Black and others to explain the response to intellectual conflict. Drawing on interviews with 70 professors at two universities, we find that the contestation of intellectual conflicts is predicted by their social geometry. Academics are more likely to contest conflicts over the validity, ownership, and production of ideas when the conflict spans greater distances in relational and functional space, originates from a lower elevation in vertical space, and is a larger actual or potential change in vertical space.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document