The term 'accommodation' refers to several sorts of working agreements between rival groups that permit at least limited cooperation between them even though the issues dividing them remain unsettled. It does not technically end the conflict, but holds it in abeyance. The accommodation may last for only a short time and may be for the purpose of allowing the conflicting parties to consolidate their positions and to prepare for further conflict. Or, as is more often the case, the initial accommodation agreed upon by the parties may be part of the process of seeking solutions to the issues that divide them. If those solutions are not found, the accommodation itself may become permanent.
Definition
The famous psychologist J.M. Baldwin was the first to use the concept of accommodation. According to him, "the term denotes acquired changes in the behavior of individuals which help them to adjust to their environment".Mac Irer says that the term "accommodation refers particularly to the process in which man attains a sense of harmony with his environment".
Lundberg is of the opinion that the word "accommodation has been used to designate the adjustments which people in groups make to relieve the fatigue and tensions of competition and conflict".
According to Ogburn and Nimkoff "Accommodation is a term used by the sociologists to describe the adjustment of hostile individuals or groups".
Characteristics
- Help to adjust the environment.
- Describe the adjustment to hostile group.
- Used to designate the adjustment.
It is clear from the above that accommodation assumes various forms. Without accommodation social life could hardly go on. Accommodation checks conflicts and helps persons and groups to maintain cooperation. It enables person and groups to adjust themselves to changes functions and status which is brought about by changed conditions. The only way in which conflicts between groups may be eliminated permanently is through assimilation. Formally, assimilation is the process whereby group differences gradually disappear. Issues are based upon differences. When the differences disappear so do the issue and the conflict.