Social Jujitsu and Powerful Principles for Managing Social Conflict

Introduction

From time to time all of us have social conflicts. Sometimes we are invited to dance with people who have more external power than us, for example, a supervisor or an elder sibling or parent. Sometimes we might be invited to struggle with someone we don’t care so much about; like a stranger or acquaintance or a distant in-law. In either case the choice to engage or abstain is ours.
If we engage, it is important to do our best to leave our dance partner some dignity and show some respect.

The goal is to not be controlled by the expectations of the other person and leave them at least with a little more knowledge about how to be happy.