Violence and conflict in intercultural interaction

Abstract

The article reveals the specificity of intercultural interaction at the present stage of development of societies, reveals the nature and significance of violence and conflict. Defining intercultural interaction as an aggregate of heterogeneous, different-level relationships, relations and processes of functioning of cultural systems that influence one another, the authors note that this influence can be both positive and negative. In the first case, interaction is free from coercion and promotes mutual enrichment of cultures. In the second case, it involves violence and lays the groundwork for the emergence of conflict as a way of eliminating the forced factor. The authors note that today societies and cultures are undergoing a massive pressure caused by the process of globalization that affects the fundamental foundations of the world order, creating a number of contradictions within the framework of interaction of cultures. Globalization does not just create conditions for interaction between cultures, but it also makes this interaction inevitable. Intercultural interaction in these conditions is accompanied by cultural expansion, expansion of the sphere of influence of one cultural paradigm and the imposition of a single socio-cultural and political model of the organization of human existence. Violence in intercultural interaction is connected with the imposition of culture with the use of coercive means or through violent practices, which are implemented by infringing on the rights and freedoms of individuals and groups and are contrary to their interests and goals. Readiness for violence is explained by a connection with domination or the desire for domination. Unlike violence, the conflict in intercultural interaction is seen as an attempt to escape from the chains of domination and to be free from coercion in order to restore reciprocity and equality in intercultural relations.