Mogelijkheden van een sociologie der Belgische conflicten na de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1944-1961). Een verkenning van de basisstructuren

Samenvatting

An examination of the possibilities of a sociological treatment of Belgian conflicts after WWII. The sociological perspective is offered by the views of H. Gluckman, P. Sorokin and, esp, L. Coser on the lessening of the dangers of conflicts through their instit'ization. A number of conflicts in Belgium are analyzed: (1) the Flemish-Walloon struggle in its political, economic and cultural aspects; (2) the 'ideological' conflict between the religious and the freethinkers (this overlaps the ethnic conflict: the religious are 62% Flemings, 28% Walloons and 10% people of Brussels; the freethinkers 40% Flemings, 40% Walloons and 20% people of Brussels); (3) SE conflicts (class and industr); (4) regional conflicts (city vs country); (5) political conflicts (between the 3 leading political parties: Catholics, Liberals and Socialists). Statistical data about these conflicts are presented in 7 tables. A sociological analysis leads to the presentation of 3 hypotheses: (A) a conflict which becomes violent brakes the development of other conflicts; (B) when a conflict is faced with simultaneous other conflicts, it tends to fall back upon itself and attempts to solve its own problems; and (C) the more homogeneous one of the groups in conflict, the more its members become aware of the values and structures of the other. I. Langnas.