Conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience, one that people in relationships find themselves in on a regular basis (Collier, 1991; Roloff, 1987).
When in conflict, individuals often demonstrate preferences for certain communication styles (Roloff, 1987)—a cognitive process that cannot be separated from the cultural context in which it resides (Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, & Norasakkunkit, 1997; Orbe, 1998a).
As part of an individual’s racial and ethnic background, one is taught how to deal with conflict through one’s family and friends; in this regard, race, ethnicity, and culture are the frames through which we view, experience, and perceive conflict (Collier, 1991; Ribeau, 1995). People from different cultural backgrounds define conflict differently and, thus, have different goals and ways of managing the conflict (Ting-Toomey & Oetzel, 2001).This chapter focuses on interracial and interethnic conflict. We adopted the definition of intercultural conflict conceptualized by Ting-Toomey (1994): “the perceived and/ or actual incompatibility of values, expectations, processes, or outcomes between two or more parties... over substantive and/or relational issues” (p. 360) to apply specifically to individuals from different racial and ethnic groups within the United States. As such, we differentiate between interracial conflict (conflict between members of different races, i.e., African American/Asian American) and interethnic conflict (conflict between members of different ethnic groups, i.e., Cuban Americans/ Puerto Rican Americans; see Orbe & Harris, 2008). Our objective in this chapter is threefold. First, we summarize existing research that addresses issues of race, ethnicity, and conflict. Second, we identify several limitations inherent in existing lines of research. Third, and finally, we utilize a co-cultural theoretical framework to outline what we suggest are important avenues for both future studies and practical applications of interracial/interethnic conflict research.