The modern society is referred to as a hyper-conflict society. This indicates that our society has reached its peak in conflict among members over a specific issue. Even if this is not the case, we are experiencing several conflicts in our daily lives, including the ban on courier vehicles in apartment complexes, the hairstyle of athletes who participated in the Olympics, and the payment of disaster aid and vaccination. Conflict as a social phenomenon is not exclusive to modern society and has always existed as a part of it since the past. In the process, the perception of conflict has changed from what was considered a “group disease” to one of the natural phenomena occurring within a group.
Conflict in East Asian culture is like a state in which arrowroot and dorsal trees, two plants that have the characteristics of winding up each other, are intertwined. They have good use separately, but have the property of growing up with tangled stems. Arrowroot and backwoods that wrap all nearby plants are scary to trees and plants in the forest. Conflicts also become a difficult problem in human society. Just as forests with arrowroot and backwoods contain solutions in them, clues to resolving conflicts in human society are also inherent in society. As such, conflict itself is not socially bad. Rather, it is natural. Scholars such as George Simmel and Lewis Coser argue that conflict can strengthen cohesion within a group and become a driving force for generating new values and social institutions. This means that conflict has positive functions as well as negative functions. However, today’s society is becoming a lifeless forest without self-management or coordination of rampant conflicts.
There are several reasons why the conflict in modern society has intensified so much that it cannot be compared with the past. The development of information and communication technology, and the spread of Social Network Service (SNS) have become major factors which deepen these conflicts. Group psychology such as frustrated desire for profit, social inequality and alienation, and loss of trust in society are combined with cyberspace to create a violent culture of cyberbullying, hate and discrimination. They become arrowroot and backwoods and desperately try to wind around each other. In a state where respect for others and trust in social values are lost, conflict becomes a war against groups of different values.
It is not easy to change one’s value. Then, is it impossible to resolve the conflicts? The answer is surprisingly simple. By recognizing differences and concentrating on the facts in the process of finding the cause and solution of the conflict, it can be sufficiently resolved. This seems to be acknowledgment of the other person, but eventually, it becomes a process of self-recognition. If we do not acknowledge the difference, we only focus on accusing the other person, leading to denial of existence itself. These behaviors become boomerangs, resulting in one’s existence not being recognized in society. Who would want to live life with someone who doesn't recognize their worth, their identity, and reason for being?