Patterns of Conflict Generation and Conflict “Absorption”:The Cases of Israeli Labor and Ethnic Conflicts

This comparison of labor and ethnic conflict in Israel is intended to substantiate two theses. The first maintains that ideologies have more to do with patterning conflict than merely with legitimizing interests and counterinterests; specifically, that when ideological commitments and interests do not coincide, this will lead to ambiguities, i.e., to activities which work at cross-purposes to each other. The second thesis is that when an Establishment is confronted by conflict, it may develop certain patterns of conflict absorption by which the conflict is neither suppressed nor yet allowed to generate any substantial social changes. These patterns usually include symbolic reassurances; devices for attenuating demands and for depleting the aggrieved parties' ranks; partial responsiveness; and maintenance of the Establishment itself and the basic framework of the society relatively unchanged.