A Diagnosis for Social Conflict That Gets Lost Along the Way
Priya Parker’s new book, 'The Art of Fighting,' argues that conflict is a necessary component of healthy community building. She suggests that avoiding confrontation leads to loneliness and prevents groups from defining their shared values.
Why it matters
This perspective challenges the common cultural tendency toward conflict avoidance, offering a framework for more productive social and organizational interactions.
A new book suggests that arguing isn’t about winning but seems preoccupied with it anyway.
Millennium Images / Gallery Stock September 15, 2026, 7:30 AM ET Share Save Weddings, famously, create conflict. Before I got married, my parents and I fought over the guest list. A friend of mine struggled with adding some of her husband’s Protestant traditions to their otherwise Jewish ceremony. Another friend had to decode, and then manage, complicated tensions among her future aunts- and uncles-in-law.
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