Third-Party Dispute Resolution in India and the United States

Authors

James A. Wall Jr., Utah State University
Vairam Arunachalam, University of Missouri - Columbia
Ronda Roberts Callister, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Volume

38

Issue

12

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

First Page

3075

Last Page

3100

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

This study investigates the dispute-resolution approaches of 50 Indian panchayats (a team of 5 male elders), 50 Indian elders, and 50 U.S. informal mediators. A literature review as well as preliminary interviews with Indian students in the United States (n = 90) and with villagers in India (n = 60) established that Indian villagers rely principally on a panchayat or male elder to handle their disputes. Our subsequent study of panchayats and elders in India indicated that they do manage disputes and that their approaches differ in several distinctive ways. Subsequent qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the Indian elders' techniques with those of the U.S. mediators indicated that Indian elders were more assertive in their approaches.

Comments

Originally published by Wiley-Blackwell. Publisher's PDF and HTML fulltext available through remote link.

Recommended Citation

Wall, J. A. Jr., Arunachalam, V. & Callister, R. R. 2008. Third Party Conflict Resolution in India and the U.S. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(12), 3075-3100.