Little Women was a novel written by Louisa May Alcott that portrayed the life journey of the four March sisters, where the dynamics of their relationships represent various types of social conflict. This study aims to explain the types of social conflict and to analyze the functions of social conflict based on Coser Theory’s portrayed in the novel Little Women. This study used qualitative methods, including repeated readings of the novel, data identification, data classification, and selection of the most important data. The results showed that the types of social conflict in the novel were realistic conflict and non-realistic conflict. Furthermore, The results indicated that realistic conflict consisted of two types, hostile feeling and hostile behavior. Moreover, the functions of social conflict that found in this study were dysfunctional and functional functions. The analyzed conflicts demonstrate that, although some conflicts are negative, most have a positive impact on character development, social relationships, and the formation of self-awareness.

Keywords: social conflict, realistic conflict, non-realistic conflict, functions of social conflict, little women