Littlejohn, Stephen : University of New Mexico Main Campus
Review
"Pearce and Littlejohn confront one of the important issues of the late 20th century: the lack of civility
in public discourse. The authors pull together insights from many sources. The overall presentation is well organized
and easy to follow."
-- Choice Magazine
Sage Publications Web Site, June, 2000
Summary
Moral Conflicts, the subject of this book are passionate and difficult to resolve. Responses that are normally
effective; such as explaining, persuading, and compromising; can make matters worse and drive people further apart
in such conflicts. Moral conflicts occur when incommensurate social realities come to clash. Disputes about abortion,
religion in politics and education, legal rights for homosexuals, and environmental politics are issues in which
well-intentioned parties have created polarized and diverse patterns of communication. The most virtuous actions
of each side not only fail, but widen the schism. Such conflicts require us to find forms of communication that
go beyond our normal ways of dealing with disagreement.
In an original synthesis of communication theory and their own research W. Barnett Pearce and Stephen W. Littlejohn
describe a dialectical tension between the expression and suppression of conflict that can be transcended in ways
that lead to personal growth and productive patterns of social action. In Moral Conflict several projects are described
as practical examples of these new ways of working through difficult struggles.
