Within the realms of culture and society, conflict is tonic and constructive. The different worlds of culture are not really antagonistic to one another; they conflict only insofar as they compete for attention and resources. The irreconcilable differences among them are the source of the greatest richness and profundity in life. Similarly, the conflicts among individuals and between different formal principles are the preconditions for a determinate structure in society. They give society texture, durability, and resilience. The desire for a social world of perfect harmony is thus fundamentally misguided.

XREF: Challenges the common harmony-seeking ideal in social theory and community design, resonating with pluralist thinkers like Heraclitus and Berlin.

XREF: Challenges the harmony-seeking ideal common in utopian thinking and some consensus-based management theories.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 93