Wendy S. Pachter Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 263-266 Published Online: 10 Dec 2007 Deutsch, M., Coleman, P.T. & Marcus, E. C. ( Eds. ). The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. San Francisco , CA : John Wiley & Sons , 2006.
It is difficult to imagine a social issue that is more central to human interaction or that offers greater possibilities for creatively constructive or devastatingly destructive outcomes than social conflict. Conflict between individuals in families, schools and communities; ethnic, religious or other groups; organizations such as corporations and labor unions; nations; or across these levels is at the heart of many issues studied by SPSSI members. Professor Deutsch, the senior editor of The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, has devoted approximately 60 years to the study of social processes related to conflict and its resolution, as well as to the education and development of psychologists and others who advance our understanding of, and ability to constructively intervene in, conflicts of many varieties and in many contexts. The second edition of The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (hereafter, The Handbook) is both a breathtakingly comprehensive application of the resources of psychological (particularly social psychological) science and theory to understanding and managing conflicts, and a tribute to the vast range of theory, research, and applications developed as a result of Professor Deutsch's contributions. The second edition of this book is enriched by the inclusion of some wonderful and stimulating new chapters by experts in fields other than psychology, as well as by revisions of many of the original chapters. The scope and size of The Handbook preclude discussing individual chapters (of which there are 37), so this review focuses on the book overall. Read more...