Conflict Perspective

1. War

1.1. Conflict theorists tend to see war as either a unifier or as a "cleanser" of societies. In conflict theory, war is the result of a cumulative and growing conflict between individuals and groups and between entire societies

1.1.1. In the context of war, a society may become unified in some ways, but conflict still remains between multiple societies.

1.2. war may also result in the wholesale end of a society.

2. Conflict theory is a sociopolitical theory that originated with Karl Marx.

2.1. In this struggle, Marx emphasizes the antagonistic relationship between social classes, in particular the relationship between the owners of capital—who Marx calls the “bourgeoisie”—and the working class, which he calls the “proletariat.

2.1.1. Conflict theory had a profound influence on 19th- and 20th-century thought and continues to influence political debates to this day.

2.2. One common criticism of conflict theory is that it fails to capture the way in which economic interactions can mutually benefit the different classes involved

2.2.1. For example, conflict theory describes the relationship between employers and employees as one of conflict, in which the employers wish to pay as little as possible for the employees' labor, while the employees wish to maximize their wages

3. Examples

3.1. The financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent bank bailouts are good examples of real-life conflict theory They view the financial crisis as the inevitable outcome of the inequalities and instabilities of the global economic system, which enable the largest banks and institutions to avoid government oversight and take huge risks that only reward a select few

3.2. Sears and Cairns note that large banks and big businesses subsequently received bailout funds from the same governments that claimed to have insufficient funds for large-scale social programs such as universal healthcare This dichotomy supports a fundamental assumption of conflict theory, which is that mainstream political institutions and cultural practices favor dominant groups and individuals

4. Conflict theorists view the relationship between a housing complex owner and a tenant as being based mainly on conflict instead of balance or harmony, even though there may be more harmony than conflict.

4.1. They believe that they are defined by getting whatever resources they can from each other.

5. Assumption behind conflict perspective

5.1. Conflict theory focuses on the competition among groups within society over limited resources.

5.2. Conflict theory views social and economic institutions as tools of the struggle among groups or classes, used to maintain inequality and the dominance of the ruling class.

5.3. Later versions of conflict theory look at other dimensions of conflict among capitalist factions and among various social, religious, and other types of groups.

6. Competition; multiple social groups’ compete over scarce resources

6.1. Marxist conflict theory sees society as divided along lines of economic class between the proletarian working class and the bourgeois ruling class.

6.2. Competition exists as a result of the scarcity of resources, including material resources—money, property, commodities, and more. Beyond material resources, individuals and groups within a society compete for intangible resources as well

6.3. Conflict theory has sought to explain a wide range of social phenomena, including wars, revolutions, poverty, discrimination, and domestic violence

7. Karl Marx theorie

7.1. Marx’s version of conflict theory focused on the conflict between two primary classes. Each class consists of a group of people bound by mutual interests and a certain degree of property ownership

7.2. This way of thinking is tied to a common image associated with conflict theory-based models of society; adherents to this philosophy tend to believe in a pyramid arrangement in terms of how goods and services are distributed in society.