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conflict theory

social conflict theory

HISTORY

created by : arellano,anne mary margaret

section : 1-ait

  • The ideas that make up the foundations of conflict theory can be traced back to early philosophy. Han Fei Tzu (280 - 233 BC) and other ancient Chinese philosophers taught that men are innately weak and lazy. This assumption leads to the obvious conclusion that the only way men can be controlled, then, is through punishment. Those who have the power to punish can control society, as the fear of the power of punishment keeps men in check.

key terms

  • Polybius, a Greek philosopher (205-125 BC), focused his studies on the Roman Republic. He believed that people were like herds of animals. Weaknesses lead man to form communities in which the strongest and bravest person became the leader. He believed societies change and transition into a monarchy and that monarchies are based on justice and legitimate authority. Monarchies have an obligation to keep peace in society.[3] However, the same problems with men will be exhibited in their kings, leading to corrupt and unjust monarchies. The result: tyrants and tyranny. Tyranny is, however, self-limiting. Once it becomes unbearable, the elite in society will figure out ways to over throw the monarchy. Society will be in support of these new leaders because they give more liberty and equality. This cycle will repeat itself because the new leader will take some of the liberty and sense of equality away from the people. Polybius believed the only way to stop this cycle is to form a government that combines the best elements from monarchies, aristocracies, and democracy, like the Roman government during his time.

EXAMPLES OF CONFLICT THEORY

Below are some of the key terms employed in social conflict theories :

  • Class conflict: The struggle between groups occupying different socioeconomic positions in the same society. These groups compete for control of economic, political and social resources. Class conflict can manifest as physical violence, propaganda (e.g., the spread of ideologies, such as "homeless people are lazy"), economic threats (e.g., the middle class boycotting "Big Business"), or legal battles (e.g., class action lawsuits by consumers against large corporations).

Marxist-based social theory which argues that individuals and groups (social classes) within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources (the wealthy vs. the poor) and that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power.

  • Ideology: the collection of beliefs that justify a social arrangement.
  • Social class: an aspect of social location that is determined by either your relationship to the means of production (Marx) or your power, prestige and wealth (Weber).
  • Individuals subordinated to society.
  • Work was devoted to explaining how capitalism shaped society.
  • Profit is produced through the exploitation of the working class.
  • Considered the economic organization of society the most important influence on what humans think and how they behave.
  • Theorized that society had three dimensions: political, economic, and cultural.
  • Believed that to understand social behavior one had to understand the meaning that a behavior had for social actors.
  • Deviance: going against prevailing social norms
  • Proleteriat: in Marx’s economic conflict theory, the proletariat are the working class who did not own the resources, land or tools they use to produce goods for the bourgeoisie
  • Bourgeoisie: in Marx’s economic conflict theory, the bourgeoisie are the capitalist class who own the resources, land and tools. They exploit the proletariat by paying them less than their work is worth.
  • Capitalism: an economic system with private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods or services for profit.

modern example

KARL MARX

  • Wealth and Power Inequality
  • Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in the German city of Trier. His family was Jewish, but later converted to Protestantism in 1824 in order to avoid anti-semitic laws and persecution. For this reason among others, Marx rejected religion early on in his youth and made it absolutely clear that he was an atheist.

KARL MARX

CONFLICT THEORIES

  • Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist best known for his philosophy known as Marxism. The basic philosophy behind Marxism is an anti-Capitalism stance that is against materialism and differing social classes. Marx spent most of his life studying and writing about history, economics and politics.
  • Marx was born in Trier, Prussia on 5 May, 1818. His parents, Heinrich Marx and Henriette Presbury Marx, had six other children but only three of these — Jenny, Laura and Eleanor — lived beyond childhood. Heinrich Marx was a Jewish lawyer, but converted to Lutheranism because he wasn't allowed to practice law as a Jew. Karl Marx was christened a Lutheran at age six.
  • He earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1841 from the University of Berlin. His philosophical views were heavily influenced by Georg Hegel's work and by the Young Hegelians. The Young Hegelians were dedicated to trying to radically change Prussian autocracy and organized religion. Marx thought that class struggle existed because of the division of social classes and he thought that religion was a human invention with strong social elements.

MODERN EXAMPLES

While the United States is purportedly a nation that is values principles of equality, egalitarianism, meritocracy, hard work, and the pursuit of the "American Dream," the U.S. also has a very high level of economic and social inequality. Domhoff (2011) provides striking evidence of this inequality, finding that "as of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%."[9] He goes on to state that this means that the top 20% of Americans own 85% of the nation’s wealth as a whole, with the other 80% of Americans having only 15% of the wealth. This extreme inequality in the level of power and wealth that currently exist in the United States exemplifies the central themes of conflict theory, namely that there is a competition for power between classes. The implications of this large disparity in wealth between social classes in the United States includes many disadvantages for those in the lower classes, such as a lack of access to quality health care, increased risk of violent crime, fewer educational opportunities (especially post-secondary education), and the absence of a social network to provide opportunities for upward mobility

  • According to Karl Marx in all stratified societies there are two major social groups: a ruling class and a subject class. The ruling class derives its power from its ownership and control of the forces of production. The ruling class exploits and oppresses the subject class. As a result there is a basic conflict of interest between the two classes. The various institutions of society such as the legal and political system are instruments of ruling class domination and serve to further its interests. Marx believed that western society developed through four main epochs-primitive communism, ancient society, feudal society and capitalist society.
  • In 1842, Karl Marx became the editor of a liberal democratic newspaper called the Rheinische Zeitung. When the government banned the newspaper, he and his new bride, Jenny von Westphalen, went to Paris. Marx married Jenny 19 June, 1843. He wrote Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts in Paris and this work was published in 1844. The Manuscripts contained Marx's philosophy that private property ownership was not good for humanity as it alienated the sense of community.
  • Social Stratification
  • After Paris, Marx and Jenny lived in Brussels and then London. In London, Karl Marx wrote The German Ideology with Freidrich Engels. The basic philosophy of this book is that economic and social issues influence the means of production and the development of materialism. Marx and Engels most well known work, 1848's The Communist Manifesto, expressed that a Communist society would be the end result of a history of class struggle between workers and business owners.
  • Karl Marx spent most of his days passionately involved in the subjects of economics and social history. He was said to be deeply affected by his wife Jenny's death from cancer in 1881 at the age of 67. Marx died at age 65 of what was reported as natural causes on 14 March, 1883.

CONFLICT THEORIES

As civilizations undergo change from agrarian, rural groups into industrialized, modern societies, a social hierarchy emerges that effectively creates distinct classes based on wealth, power and prestige. According to conflict theory, it is this structure of social stratification that pits those in the upper class (i.e., those with the most power, wealth and prestige) against the lower classes.

Conflict theory also asserts that modern society and the "...criminal justice system and criminal laws..operates on the behalf of the rich and powerful social elites, with the resulting policies aimed at controlling the poor,"[citation needed] thus perpetuating a system in which the upper class maintains power and all other classes remain economically disadvantaged, disenfranchised, and nearly powerless. Marx foresaw such conflicts, asserting that "...every society has been based... on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes," with modernization and industrialization significantly increasing this conflict and the oppression of the lower classes by the upper class.

Modern society presents several examples of the main ideas and mechanisms of conflict theory in practice, showing the process by which the upper class power elites systematically work to disenfranchise and exploit the lower classes to maintain and increase their power. Interestingly, conflict theory does not apply only to one type of government or society; it can be applied to democracies, socialist nations and dictatorships alike.

  • Conflict theory emphasizes the role of coercion and power in producing social order. This perspective is derived from the works of Karl Marx, who saw society as fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources.

Primitive communism is represented by the societies of pre-history and provides the only example of the classless society. From then all societies are divided into two major classes - master and slaves in ancient society, lords and serfs in feudal society and capitalist and wage labourers in capitalist society.

Weber sees class in economic terms. He argues that classes develop in market economies in which individuals compete for economic gain. He defines a class as a group of individuals who share a similar position in market economy and by virtue of that fact receive similar economic rewards. Thus a person's class situation is basically his market situation.

  • Karl Marx is the father of the social conflict theory, which is a component of the 4 paradigms of sociology. Certain conflict theories set out to highlight the ideological aspects inherent in traditional thought. Whilst many of these perspectives hold parallels, conflict theory does not refer to a unified school of thought, and should not be confused with, for instance, peace and conflict studies, or any other specific theory of social conflict.

Those who share a similar class situation also share similar life chances. Their economic position will directly affect their chances of obtaining those things defined as desirable in their society. Weber argues that the major class division is between those who own the forces of production and those who do not. He distinguished the following class grouping in capitalist society:

dEFINITION OF CONFLICT THEORY

  • A social science perspective that holds that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society, with inequality perpetuated because it benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor.
  • The propertied upper class
  • The property less white collar workers
  • The petty bourgeoisie
  • The manual working class.
  • Conflict theories are perspectives in sociology that emphasize the social, political, or material inequality of a social group, that critique the broad socio-political system, or that otherwise detract from structural functionalism and ideological conservativism.
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