Douglas P. Fry (born 20 September 1953 in Boston), is a docent and professor of anthropology, teacher in the Faculty of Social and Caring Sciences at Åbo Akademi University in Finland and adjunct research scientist in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona.
A renowned American anthropologist and a leading authority on aggression, conflict and conflict resolution, has worked in this field for over twenty-five years and has published many articles and books on this subject. His main fieldwork areas are: Mexico, where he conducted research on socialization of aggression and conflict resolution styles in two neighbouring communities of Zapotecs, and Finland, where he conducted a study on Finnish culture and society in general and conflict resolution styles within families in particular. Fry's ongoing project concerns patterns of conflict resolution and reconciliation mechanisms across 186 societies represented in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). The study aims to produce new knowledge on conflict management and reconciliation which would boost and stimulate prevention of violence and intergroup conflict.[1] Fry teaches at the Åbo Akademi University in Vasa within the educational specialization Aggression, Conflict Resolution, and Peacemaking.
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Drawing on archeology and fieldwork on hunter-gatherer bands from around the world, Fry debunks the idea that war and conflict is ancient and inevitable and that there is an inborn instinct of aggression in humans. Fry shows that, far from being natural, warfare actually appeared quite recently along with changes in social organization and especially the rise of states. Strong anthropological finding, which has been replicated over different studies, is that there is a correlation between increasing social complexity and the likelihood of war. What this means is the simplest type of society, nomadic hunter gatherer bands, tend to be relatively unwarlike and as social complexity increases into kingdoms and chiefdoms, the chance of warfare definitely increases. Fry’s definition of war and his argument that war is a relatively recent phenomenon has been adopted by other academics studying war and conflict resolution, for example ethologist Judith Hand and sociologist Sinisa Malesevic .
Fry also points out that although war is present in our times, the vast majority of us live peaceful, nonviolent lives. We are therefore not as warlike as it might seem and if we learn from our ancestors, we may be able to move beyond war and provide real justice and security for the people of the world,,,[1][2][3][4][5][6],,.[7][8]
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