 Dear students, in this module we are going to talk about one of the important aspects of our social-interactional process that is competition and conflict. You would be perhaps you would be surprised to see that when we talk about the social interaction we generally talk about the cooperation, we generally talk about an exchange relationship however when it comes to these corporations and exchange relationships we are we are intentionally or unintentionally enter into a relationship of competition and conflict as well so this is also an important aspect to understand the human social interaction. Competition and conflict are two types of social interaction that involve rivalry, tension, and opposition between individuals or groups. So, in the social-interactional process competition or conflict is as important as the cooperation or exchange relationship is. We look at any social institution, we look at any group activity in the market, so we see competition everywhere and rarely happens that competition later on converts to conflicting situations. So, competition can be constructive or destructive and can lead to innovation, progress, or social inequality if it is destructive. So, conflict can arise from differences in values, interest, or power and can have a significant impact on social relationships and social change. So, when competition arises, so as a result of this we look at different values that are adhered to different values and due to these differences of value system, conflicting situations arise. For example, we look at educational system, especially in Pakistan, educational system is competition based. As you know, positions are first position, second position, third position, so all these positions are very limited. So, competition is generally limited resources because resources are not unlimited in this world, so we have to compete with each other to access those resources. And best fit is in competition, they are relatively advantageous positions and the rest have to face disadvantage. And because of this, social inequality arises in the society. When this inequality is so high that your value system itself changes and two different groups adhere to different values system, then that situation goes towards conflict. For example, we look at a situation in Pakistan where there is a sectarian violence or sectarian conflict in which different sects are looking at different value system or are believing in different ideologies. So, ideological belief comes into conflict with each other in a particular competitive environment and then sectarian violence arises. Similarly, we look at the system of political parties. Political parties are also in a competitive environment. Voters adapt different strategies to increase their vote bank. When they try to exploit these strategies on a mass scale with different values and ultimately they try to change their goal, then they go into a conflicting situation. So, again, it's a food for thought for you that by analyzing the role of competition and conflict in Pakistani politics and different social movements, you can better understand that how different competitive and conflicting situations arise within a society.