Self-Mediation in the Contemporary Couple

The traditional cultural reminiscences existing in contemporary couples often create difficulties in adapting to a common value system by the partners. The tendency to tolerate the other also seems obvious and for these reasons, marital solidarity has many functional problems. In the common culture, the conflict is equivalent to scandal, so often the tendency to avoid the conflict is a priority to mediate the conflictual situation. At the same time, in the process of self-mediation, a priority effort tends to be to look for the guilty one and, at the same time, to dominate the mediation process. And because a certain set of tips already seems socially validated ("Communicate better!"), many couples end up mediating the effects of the conflict, not the state of the conflict itself. The study aims to analyze the opinions on the strategy of self-management of the conflict within the couple, based on a qualitative research, the research tool being the semi-structured interview.

GENDER, ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND HOUSEHOLD CONFLICTS: A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN A CHRISTIAN MINORITY GEOGRAPHY

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender has an influence on alcohol consumption and household conflicts in the West African geography. The research design complies with the exploratory research one, with a constructivist epistemological posture. It is a qualitative approach and with a triangulation of research tools. The results show that male gender has more influence on alcohol consumption and conflicts than the female gender. However, it is noticed that household conflictual situation involves intergenerational conflicts, intra-gender conflicts and inter-gender conflicts. The findings pratically imply that there should be a segmentation, creativity and innovation in the beverage market in order to meet consumers’core needs and real expectations. There must be a particular marketing segmentation consideration by taking into account the consumer’s gender in term of consumption as well as each gender’s role and responsibilities in the society. The original value of this research is that it is an exploratory research that shows the effects of gender on the relations between alcohol consumption and household conflicts in the West African context. Keywords: Gender, Alcohol consumption, Household conflicts.

Karin E. Olsen, Conceptualizing the Enemy in Early Northwest Europe: Metaphors of Conflict and Alterity in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, and Early Irish Poetry. Medieval Identities: Socio-Cultural Spaces, 6. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2016, 260 pp.

In this ambitious study Karin E. Olsen ranges far and wide in the early poetry of medieval Northwest Europe, far in the sense of incorporating the literary evidence from three adjacent but distinct cultures, wide in the sense of greatly expanding on the common notions of the enemy and conflict, often by making alterity one side of a conflictual situation. A uniform methodology seeks to encompass this sprawling investigative field, where ‘conceptual metaphor’ is a key heuristic term.

Religious Symbols in Spain: A Legal Perspective

In Spain, immigration has been one of the main reasons for a significant number of conflicts regarding the use of religious symbols. In this context, the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Spanish Constitution are expected to play a very important role as a criterion to solve these tensions. However, a more accurate response is provided by case law, where the variety of circumstances that surround each conflictual situation can be taken into account to reach the best solution.1

The ontology of conflict

This paper aims at clarifying the ontology of conflict as a preliminary for constructing a conflict mapping guide (Wehr 1979). After recalling the main definitions elaborated in different disciplines, the meaning of conflict is elicited through semantic analysis based on corpus evidence. Two fundamental meanings emerge: conflict as an interpersonal hostility between two or more human subjects, and conflict as a propositional incompatibility. These two states of affairs are significantly related, because the latter tends to generate the former whenever the incompatible positions are embodied by as many parties who feel personally questioned. The semantic analysis allows to sketch the ontology of the conflictual situation that can serve to generate a conflict mapping guide, and to face several crucial aspects that are relevant both to the study and to the management of conflicts. In the former perspective, it allows for a comparison of the situation of interpersonal conflict with the seemingly similar process of controversy.

Homo Theologicus: Toward a Reflexive Theology (with the Help of Pierre Bourdieu)

The current conflictual situation of theology can be understood from a sociological perspective using the work of Pierre Bourdieu on the relationships of power in a given field. The article intends to help theologians be more reflexive about their task of interpreting the Christian symbol system.

Rifiuto delle cure e diritto di morire

Lo scritto intende sottolineare la difficile problematicità, dal punto di vista legale, del tema del rifiuto di cure salvavita da parte del paziente e del rilievo che una tale volontà (sempre che libera e cosciente) ha per il medico. In tale prospettiva, si dà conto di come, nella questione, interferiscano (ed entrino in contrasto) due interessi fondamentali, entrambi protetti dall’ordinamento, ossia quello della libertà morale della persona e quello della vita, osservandosi come siffatta situazione conflittuale si tragga proprio (anche) dal recente provvedimento giudiziale sulla vicenda “Welby”. Il tribunale di Roma, infatti, dopo aver ampiamente evidenziato la univoca protezione garantita dall’ordinamento giuridico alla libertà di autodeterminazione del malato, non può non registrare la indiscutibile ed assoluta tutela assicurata al bene della vita, in sostanza individuando in essa l’adempimento al riconoscimento della vincolatività, per il medico, di una volontà di cessazione delle cure idonee al mantenimento in vita, espressa dal paziente. Si osserva come, nella prima (reale) disamina specifica del problema (dei limiti di rilevanza della volontà del malato rispetto alla posizione di garanzia del medico) da parte di un giudice nazionale, venga condivisa – di contro alle opinioni dominanti nel dibattito dottrinale – la posizione secondo cui la indisponibilità del bene fondamentale della vita si ponga, anche allo stato normativo attuale, come limite al riconoscimento – del rifiuto consapevole di cure mediche salvavita – quale situazione giuridica soggettiva tutelata, sempre e comunque, dall’ordinamento. ---------- The writing intends to underline the difficult problematic nature, under the legal point of view, of life support care refusal matter by the patient and of the relief that such a will (provided that be free and conscious) has for the physician. In such perspective, it gives an account of how, in the matter, interfere (and enter contrast) two fundamental interests, both protected by the order, i.e. that of person’s moral freedom and that of life and it explains as such conflictual situation concerns really (also) about the recent judicial provision on the “Welby” case. The court of Rome, in fact, later have widely highlighted the univocal protection ensured by the legal system to the patient self-determination freedom, has to take into account the indisputable and absolute tutelage assured to the good life, basically identifying the fulfilment to the recognition of bond, for the physician, of a will of cessation of the cares suitable to the maintenance in life, expressed by the patient. One observes as, in the first (real) close examination of the problem (of the limits of importance of the will of the patient compared to the guarantee position of the doctor) by a national judge, is shared - against to the opinions ruling in the doctrinal debate, the position according to which the unavailability of the fundamental life good places, also according to the current normative state, as limit to the recognition - of the refusal aware of sustaining-life treatments - as subjective juridical situation protected, always and anyway, by the order.