Multiplicity of internal conflicts stands in inverse relationship to their intensity. The building of coalitions from elements within the social structure to form pressure groups, single issue movements, towards reaching immediate objectives, may result from the process of internal conflicts. Such a coalition, if it is not to fall apart, must stay close to its original purpose. Aggressive or hostile impulses do not account for social conflict.
Conflict can occur only in the interaction between subject and object.
It presumes more than a psychological condition. Realistic conflicts occur when conflict is a means, an expression of divergent interests or reciprocally implicated parties. In realistic conflicts there exist functional alternatives for different means of expression.