【正文】 ....................ⅰ Abstract...............................................................................................................ⅱ Acknowledgments...............................................................................................iv Introduction..........................................................................................................1 I. The Phenomenon of the American Social Conflicts in The Godfather.............3 A. The Criminal Activities..............................................................................3 Actions Committed by Civilians Towards Civilians................4 Criminality Committed by the Mafia Towards Civilians.................5 Committed by the Mafioso Towards Mafioso.............................7 B. The Governments`s Corruption..................................................................8 C. Danger of the National Security...............................................................10 II. The Origin of the Phenomenon......................................................................12 A. The Primary Cause—Economic System .................................................12 B. The Main Cause—Power of Social Class................................................14 C. The Unneglect Cause—Culture Diversity...............................................15 III. The Alleviation of Conflicts.........................................................................17 A. The New Operation Rules........................................................................16 B. The Solution.............................................................................................18 of Social Inquality................................................................18 and Cultural Acknowledgment...............................................18 Values.......................................................................19 Conclusion..........................................................................................................21 Notes...................................................................................................................22 Bibliography.......................................................................................................24 1 An Analysis of American Social Conflicts in The Godfather Introduction ―Behind every great fortune there is crime‖ said Honor233。die humaine . Crimes violate human rights, break up families, and unsettle people to a degree, which make them mistrust each other, and therefore derogate the development of the whole human society. All the conflicts arising from criminality should be alleviated in some way. Therefore, people, especially the authorities who govern countries, are supposed to pay much attention to this vital concern. Puzo‘s works with their realistic writing style are reflecting the actual social conditions of the timeframe he lived in. Therefore he gives his readers an exact view on the events he observed while writing his books. In our modern age we have the chance to gain an enthralling insight of the problems of America‘s in 1950‘s. Especially The Godfather with its prosaic style, shows us the onset of a crime culture with nearly Darwinist consistence in a meticulous way. The Author portrays a circle of violence that no one of the parties involved could escape, because it even manifested itself in the shelter of the family. The particular stories of the individuals, who appear in this book, lay bare the nature of capitalist society by uncovering a profound human trait, namely the pursuit for wealth and power. There is no doubt that this novel is still accurate in analyzing modern America, and even other capitalist societies. The struggle to achieve money and power continually overshadows social values like solidarity, considerateness and mutual respect. Recently several novels from modern American authors, give the same diagnosis for society. One example is Back to Blood by Tom 2 Wolfe, which was published recently2. A lack of these values is fertile ground for criminality to sprawl. What is unique about the novel is that it presents the conflicts from the perspective of the intelligent and tactical godfather. There is always someone you can learn from. The godfather, Don Corleone, shows his tremendous abilities by intelligently modifying his behavior during the interaction with different individuals. Everyone feels his accepting and understanding, which makes the ―Don‖ exceptionally successful in leading a group and maintaining his Mafia In this paper, I will illustrate the conflicts and analyze their causes. Afterwards I will present potential ways on how the conflicts can be resolved. 3 I. The Phenomenon of the American Social Conflicts in The Godfather The foundation of social conflicts is the struggle for power in society. Social conflicts or group conflicts occur, when two or more actors oppose each other in social interaction, reciprocally exerting social power in an effort to attain scarce or inpatible goals and prevent the opponent from attaining them. It is a social relationship wherein the action is oriented intentionally for carrying out the actor‘s own will against the resistance of other However, contradictions are universal, absolute, existing in the whole processes of the development of things, and running through all processes from the beginning to the end. Where conflicts are, there will be obstacles. At the same time proper conflicts induce progress. This is at least true as long as the parties of contradictions can e to an agreement under some conditions. If such conflicts and their resolutions are not available, people will create them, if The Godfather tells a story about an Italian American family, with roots in