Deëscalation tip #56: Can we read the signs?

 What about deëscalating social conflict, on a scale of group-to-group?

In contemplating social conflict, or intergroup conflict, identity is a key component. 

For example, research into social/intergroup conflict notes that we are developing a high context around identity expression and identity performance, described in this peer-reviewed journal article: 

Lüders, A., Quayle, M., Maher, P., Bliuc, A., & MacCarron, P. (2024). Researching Attitude–Identity Dynamics to Understand Social Conflict and Change. European Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3022

Conflict workers try to keep up with the high context of certain words, semiotics, and other signals of identity that can escalate or deëscalate conflict. So, for example, in April 2024, I "toured" the encampment by the Portland State University library a couple of times before the actual invasion/occupation, and the eventual trashing of the library was easy to predict just by the aggregate of signals given off, such as: 

·       spraypainted messages on the masonry and windows

·       masks concealing identities of individuals

·       signs ordering others to not take photos of anyone's face (even though they wore bandanas over their faces)

·       zero greeting, zero invitation, only general hostility and impassive affects

·       accumulation of trash, pallets, tarps, and general street camp identity markers, clearly a takeover of space formerly public

I've been part of, and a student of, social conflict for many decades, so I can read all this and be able to see at least likely directions and outcomes. Those who specialize in labor struggles can do the same in their assessments of the identity expressions in those conflicts. Every intergroup conflict falls into one or more categories that are affected by identity and the context of identity performance. Some relate to class, or to ethnicity, or ideological positioning, or other group identity components. The signals may be somewhat esoteric (Go Brandon!) or they may be more widely recognizable (MAGA). 

In social conflict, culture is often generally classified by its elements, though broad classifications can flip or reverse situationally. 

For example, the US is generally thought of as a low context culture, one in which more detailed explanations are required because we are so pluralistic. Some cultures are regarded as high context, where even a gesture can indicate volumes of information. The closer a culture is to an island culture--few outside influences, little pluralism--the more the tendency toward high context. This is, of course, harder in the Internet era, but can also help us understand the autocratic efforts to limit that, such as the Great Firewall of China or the North Korean version of cultural, identity, and viewpoint exclusion. 

Aspects of identity are key to understanding and either escalating or deëscalating social conflict.