According to Ogburn and Nimkoff:

“Accommodation is a term used by the sociologists to describe the adjustment of hostile individuals or groups”. Maclver says that the term Accommodation refers particularly to the process in which man attains a sense of harmony with his environment.

Characteristics of Accommodation:

1. Accommodation is the natural result of Conflict: Since conflicts cannot take place continuously they involved in conflict do not relish the sense of conflict they sit down for it settlement. Such settlements temporary or permanent may be called “Accommodation” in the absence of conflict the question of arriving at accommodation does not arise.

2. Accommodation may be a conscious or an unconscious: Man’s adjustment with the social environment is mostly unconscious. From birth to death man to be behave in conformity with the normative order. The new born individual learns to accommodate himself with the social order which is dedicated by various norms such as customs, morals, traditions etc. Thus, unconsciously the new born individual accommodation himself with his family, caste or race, neighborhood. Life is full of such unconscious accommodative activities.

3. Accommodation is Universal: Accommodation as a ‘condition’ and as a ‘process’ is universal. Human society is composed to antagonistic elements and hence conflicts are inevitable. Since no society becomes necessary. Thus accommodation is found in all societies and in all fields of social fife.

4. Accommodation is continuous: The process of accommodation is not confined to any particular stage in the life of an individual It is not limited to any fixed social situation also. On the contrary, throughout the life one has to accommodate oneself with various situations, further, as and when conflicts take place sooner or later accommodation would follow not only the individuals but also the groups within the society are obliged to accommodate among themselves.

5. The effects of accommodation may vary with the circumstances: It may act to reduce the conflict between persons or groups as an initial step towards assimilation. It may serve to postpone outright conflict for a specific period of time, as in a treaty between nations or labor.

Management agreement. It may permit groups marked by sharp social-psychological distance to get along together. It may prove to be beneficial for the parties involved in it. Sometimes it may help the superior or more powerful party to party to impose it on the weaker party.