Perspective #1: Conflict Theory
Conflict Theory claims that society is in a state of perpetual conflict and competition for limited resources.
Conflict Theory is especially useful in understanding any conflict-related social phenomenas, such as war, wealth, poverty, revolutions, political strife, exploitation, divorce, ghettos, discrimination, prejudice, domestic violence, rape, child abuse, and slavery.
Conflict Theory, originally developed by Karl Marx, assumes that those who have perpetually tried to increase their wealth, do so at the expense and suffering of those who have not. According to Marx, this power struggle is most often won by wealthy elite and lost by the common person of common means.
Power is the ability to get what one wants even in the presence of opposition.
Authority is the institutionalized legitimate power.
Marx identified two groups of people in society:
- the Bourgeoisie
- the Proletariat
The Proletariat are the common working class, lower class, and poor members of society.
The Bourgeoisie are the wealthy elite (royalty, political, and corporate leaders); they have the most power. Bourgeoisie are the "GoliathsBiblical reference to the story of David and Goliath." in society who often bully their wishes into outcomes in their favor.
According to Marx, the Bourgesie and Proletariat cannot both win, and in order to offset the wealth and power of the Bourgeoisie, the Proletariat will eventually rise up and revolt against their oppressorsThe French, Bolshevik, United States, and Mexican revolutions are all good examples.. In fact, Marx and a later conflict theorist, Max Weber, realized that societies have different classes and societies display patterns of relatively few rich persons in comparison to a poor person majority.
Basically, Marx and Weber observed that the rich call the shots in a society.
The Conflict Theory has been repeatedly tested against scientifically derived data and it repeatedly proves to have a wide application among many different levels of sociological study. Not to say that all sociological phenomena are conflict-based, but most Conflict Theorists would argue that conflict assumptions do apply more often than not.
Feminist Theory is an example of how Conflict Theory can be applied to society in another way besides looking at social class.
Feminist Theory is an offshoot of Conflict Theory and is based on the assumption that women should be equal to men. The conflict within this theory is that men have traditionally had the power in society and women struggle to gain power.
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