Conflict Perspective (Socio-Psycho)

Topic: Conflict Perspective/Conflict Theory
Subject: ED 102 (Socio-Psycho Foundation of Education)
What Is Conflict Perspective?

The conflict perspective views the social world as riddled with tension and strife. While stability and order
remain recognized facts of the social world, the conflict perspective seeks to discover the tensions that exist
behind the facade of order. Because some segments of human systems hold more power, money, prestige, and
other valuables than do other segments, there is inevitably a conflict of interests between the "haves" and the
"have-nots." Those who possess valuable resources naturally wish to retain them. Those without resources want
to secure them.
Conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly
distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for social change. In this
context, power can be understood as control of material resources and accumulated wealth, control of politics
and the institutions that make up society, and one's social status relative to others(determined not just by class
but by race, gender, sexuality, culture, and religion, among other things).
The Capitalist Class, or elite, consists of those in positions of wealth and power who own the means of
production or control access to the means of production. The Working Class consists of relatively powerless
individuals who sell their labor to the capitalist class. It is advantageous to the elite to keep the working class in
a relatively disadvantaged position so that they can maintain the status quo and their own privileged positions.
Conflict Theory and Crime
Conflict theorists believe that the broad division of people into these two categories is inherently unequal. They
cite the criminal justice system to support their claim. The capitalist class passes laws designed to benefit
themselves. These same laws are detrimental to the working class. Both groups commit acts of deviance, but the
system the capitalists created defines deviance differently for each group. The criminal justice system judges and
punishes each group differently.
In addition, the elite can often afford expensive lawyers and are sometimes on a first-name basis with the
individuals in charge of making and enforcing laws. Members of the working class generally do not have these
advantages.
White-Collar Crimes
Conflict theorists also look at the types of crimes committed by members of the two classes. The working class is
more likely to commit so-called street crime, such as robbery, assault, or murder. Members of the elite are less
likely to commit acts of violence but more likely to engage in White-Collar Crime, or nonviolent crime
committed by the capitalist class during the course of their occupations.
Example: White-collar criminal acts include embezzlement, insider stock trading, price fixing, and breaking
regulatory laws.
History
The conflict perspective was most famously proposed by Karl Marx in the mid-1800s. Marx, whose many
teachings stressed the dynamic tension between the classes, believed that conflict defined the happenings of
society. He believed that this conflict would determine the major events and outcomes of history. His conflict
perspective believed that the split between the divisions of labor resulted in conflict between the masses and
drove the social changes of the time.
Function
Under the conflict perspective, the basic form of interaction in society is not cooperation, but competition, and
this leads to conflict. Because the individuals and groups of society compete for advantage, there is constantly
conflict for change. When there are large groups competing, such as Marx's bourgeois and proletariat, the
outcome is often major social change. This conflict can arise from the desire to own the means of production, to
own the power or land, or to own the realm of political power, and can be revolutionary, as it was in many of the
communist societies that practiced Marxist teachings.
Features
One major teaching of the conflict perspective has it that conflict arises from the dissimilar goals and interests
of different social groups--the oppressed, the dominant, the powerful, or the powerless. The conflict can arise in
different areas: law, religion, education, or media, and can be found in the powerful protecting their monopoly
on these holdings, or the powerless attempting to change the status quo.
Significance
The outcomes of the conflict perspective have had a major impact on social events in the world for two centuries.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 can be seen as an outcome of the conflict perspective. This event illustrates the
major revolutionary power of the rise of one social group against another. Even more modern conflict theorists
stress the power of the have-nots against the haves. In any society, conflict theorists argue that there is the
potential for revolutionary conflict as the few in power maintain control over the many out of it.
Theories/Speculation
Another theory related to the conflict perspective argues not against the conflict model, but for the duality of
social life. These theorists argue that the nature of society can be found in examples of both the conflict
perspective and the order perspective. Believers of this theory find examples of harmony and integration in
society, side by side with competition and subordination.
Common to all conflict approaches are the following points of emphasis:
All social relations in all social systems reveal inequalities in the distribution of valuable resources.
Tension between those with and those without resources is inevitable because those with resources have an
interest in keeping them and those without resources have an interest in securing more resources.
Such tensions will, in the long run, erupt into conflict.
With conflict will come a change in social relations and in the structure of a social system.
Human organization is thus in a state of constant tension, with inequalities in social relationships creating
conditions of conflict and change.
"A house may be large or small; as long as the neighboring houses are likewise small, it satisfies all social
requirement for a residence. But let there arise next to the little house a palace, and the little house shrinks to a
hut." Wage Labour and Capital (1847)
-Karl Mar

Conflict Perspective (Socio-Psycho)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Conflict Perspective (Socio-Psycho)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Conflict Perspective (Socio-Psycho)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Topic: Conflict Perspective/Conflict Theory

Subject: ED 102 (Socio-Psycho Foundation of Education)

What Is Conflict Perspective?

You might also like