Lewis Coser (27 November 1913–8 July 2003) was an American sociologist.
Born in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
(
Ludwig Cohen), Coser was the first sociologist to try to bring together
structural functionalismStructural functionalism is a sociological paradigm which addresses the social structure with regard to the social function of its constituent elements; namely, norms, customs, traditions, and institutions...
and
conflict theoryConflict theories are perspectives in social science which emphasize the social, political or material inequality of a social group, which critique the broad socio-political system, or which otherwise detract from structural functionalism and political conservativism...
; his work was focused on finding the functions of
social conflictSocial conflict is a conflict or confrontation of social powers.Social conflict is an important aspect of social power. Sociologists however differ in views whether social conflict is limited to hostile or antagonistic opposition and whether it is a clash of coercive powers or of any opposing...
. Coser argued - with
Georg SimmelGeorg Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists. His neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation, and of culture, which he described in terms of historical 'forms and contents'...
- that conflict might serve to solidify a loosely structured group. In a
societySociety or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole....
that seems to be disintegrating, conflict with another society, inter-group conflict, may restore the integrative core.
Lewis Coser (27 November 1913–8 July 2003) was an American sociologist.
Born in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
(
Ludwig Cohen), Coser was the first sociologist to try to bring together
structural functionalismStructural functionalism is a sociological paradigm which addresses the social structure with regard to the social function of its constituent elements; namely, norms, customs, traditions, and institutions...
and
conflict theoryConflict theories are perspectives in social science which emphasize the social, political or material inequality of a social group, which critique the broad socio-political system, or which otherwise detract from structural functionalism and political conservativism...
; his work was focused on finding the functions of
social conflictSocial conflict is a conflict or confrontation of social powers.Social conflict is an important aspect of social power. Sociologists however differ in views whether social conflict is limited to hostile or antagonistic opposition and whether it is a clash of coercive powers or of any opposing...
. Coser argued - with
Georg SimmelGeorg Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists. His neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation, and of culture, which he described in terms of historical 'forms and contents'...
- that conflict might serve to solidify a loosely structured group. In a
societySociety or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole....
that seems to be disintegrating, conflict with another society, inter-group conflict, may restore the integrative core. For example, the cohesiveness of Israeli
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s might be attributed to the long-standing conflict with the
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
s. Conflict with one group may also serve to produce cohesion by leading to a series of alliances with other groups.
Conflicts within a society, intra-group conflict, can bring some ordinarily isolated individuals into an active role. The protest over the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
motivated many young people to take vigorous roles in American political life for the first time.
Conflicts also serve a communication function. Prior to conflict, groups may be unsure of their adversary’s position, but as a result of conflict, positions and boundaries between groups often become clarified, leaving individuals better able to decide on a proper course of action in relation to their adversary.
Much like status consistency, conflicts along the same cleavages intensify the severity of the conflict. Cross-cutting cleavages tend to dissipate the severity of the conflict. For example, the coincidence of economic and political disenfranchisement among Palestinians in the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
intensify their conflict with Israeli Jews. In contrast, the non-coincidence of economic and political disenfranchisement among
Quebecers reduces somewhat the severity of their conflict with English Canada, especially with the rising prosperity of the
French CanadianFrench Canadian refers to a nation or ethnic group of French descent that originated in Canada during the period of French colonization beginning in the 17th century. They constitute the main French-speaking population of Canada...
new middle class operating in the public sector and corporate world.
Coser first taught at the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
and the University of California. He then founded the sociology department at
Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University is a private research university with a liberal arts focus, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate...
and taught there for 15 years before joining the sociology department of the
State University of New York at Stony BrookState University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
.
In 1954, with
Irving HoweIrving Howe was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Life and career:...
, Coser established the radical journal,
DissentDissent is an intellectual quarterly edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. Founded in 1954 by a group of New York Intellectuals, which included Irving Howe, Lewis A...
. Upon his death in 2003, the author of his obituary in that magazine suggested that Coser "always felt himself a marginal man. He was Jewish and non-Jewish; an American and a European; a hardheaded social analyst, committed to rigorous honesty in judgment and deed, and a passionate advocate; a leftist and a critic of the left; a defender of the underdog and something of an elite intellectual mandarin."
Works
- The Functions of Social Conflict, 1956
- The American Communist Party (with Irving Howe),1957.
- Sociological Theory, 1964
- Men of ideas, 1965
- Political Sociology, 1967
- Continuities in the Study of Social Conflict, 1967
- A Handful of Thistles: Collected Papers in Moral Conviction, 1968.
- Sociological Theory (with Bernard Rosenberg), 1969.
- Masters of Sociological Thought, 1970
- The Seventies: Problems and Proposals (with Irving Howe), 1972.
- Greedy Institutions, 1974
- The Idea of Social Structure, Papers in Honor of R. K. Merton
Robert King Merton was a distinguished American sociologist perhaps best known for having coined the phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy," the explanation for how a belief or an expectation, correct or incorrect, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person or a group will behave...
, 1975
- The Uses of Controversy in Sociology, 1976
- Refugee Scholars in America, 1984
- Conflict and Consensus, 1984
- Voices of Dissent (with Maurice Halbwachs), 1992.
- The New Conservatives: A Critique from the Left (with Irving Howe), 1999
External links