The article deals with issues describing the nature of cross-cultural conflict. The source of conflict is social conflict. Modern society in cultural terms is a rather diverse phenomenon that leads to the emergence of hotbeds of tension and conflict. The most difficult point is the escalation of social conflict into intercultural conflict. Analysis of the historical development of intercultural conflict uncovers the powerful potential of its ability to reach different spheres of society other than the one in which it originally arose. It impacts several neighboring areas of social development. Intercultural conflict generates its energy from various situations: domestic policy, international relations, economics, and other fields. Refs 10.