Conflict Theory : A Theoretical Framework

The Conflict Theory relates to capitalism by linking to race, ethnicity, and crime. The conflict theory also links deviance. The conflict perspective underlines social inequality and the distribution of power. It states that the elites, or those with the most power eventually determines group norms, and what is considered deviant behavior.

Conflict Theory derives from the ideas of Karl Marx, who saw humanity as a ground of disparity that generates conflict and social change (Delisi, 2002,

Conflict perspectives are often viewed as the opposite of the structure-functional viewpoint; meaning, not all family practices are good or beneficial for each family member. Conflict is often viewed in a negative manner, but there are many benefits of having healthy conflict in the home. In my family experience, conflict has brought compromise, solutions, and opportunities to learn other's perspectives. Conflict has also brought a better understanding of how to improve relationships and solve disagreements.

“The ethos of conflict has over the decades become a catalyst for an ethos of hate,” Page 280. Ethos means “the configuration of central societal shared beliefs that provide a particular dominant orientation to a society.” This means that ethos is a set of goals and beliefs that help define and keep a society together. It also creates a sense of social identity for a country and its people. Those beliefs stem from the history of the area and the people of the land, and history often shapes the present and future conditions and beliefs. An ethos of conflict comes into play when conflict with another, in this case country, has been so on going that the animosity shapes the societies beliefs and actions. Israel and Palestine are both caught in

The video that gave unemployed, homeless men a job in craftsmanship, strongly represented the sociological Conflict Perspective in an over looked way. Lamon Luther gave jobs to each of these men by first observing the community in which they each lived. Once Lamon had seen the struggle of the homeless men, he then began realizing the impact that helping these men with jobs would have on each of them. Also, the influence that Lamon could have over society in a sense of creating a way to make a difference in not only the homeless men’s lives but also the lives of others around them. Conflict Perspective is defined by saying that social behavior is best understood by the power that an individual has compared to another. This power includes access to not only materialistic things, but also shelter, electricity, and transportation. Lamon gave each man a chance at having a higher power in society and this video strongly suggests that anyone- even a homeless man can gain the power to better themselves or the people around them.

Conflict is one of the most prominent things that has taken place since history has begun. People act differently in the face of conflict. Conflict is one of the true ways to understand and know one’s character. Conflict proves our morals and values. Conflict is the only thing that can truly get to the core of what it means to be human to each individual person.

Nice job on your post, but I do have a question which is: since law was created in conflict and natural order, who is to say that the law is right? Can the law be bended to fit whomsoever purposes mainly the wealthy verse the poor? To this learner I think this is where the birth of Conflict theory was born, because we all have different ideas of what is right or wrong, which can change based on the power that be, why is that?

Marvin Carlson’s article argues about whether plays are better experienced purely through text or through performance. He discusses the conflict theorists dealt with when they wanted to perform Shakespeare’s plays. Some theorists believed that Shakespeare’s texts were a magnificent work on their own and that any performance needed to be as close to the text as possible. This caused theorists to regard performance as unnecessary since it had the potential to ruin the text. This type of theory carried on past the romantic period and some theorist continue to believe that plays should keep to the original script as much as possible. Carlson cites Charles Lamb commenting on how performances of Hamlet diminish the quality of Shakespeare’s work. Marvin then explains how

Conflict theorists tends to focus on those tensions created by power and conflict that ultimately cause change. Conflict theorist also see mass education as a tool of capitalist society, controlling the entrance into higher levels of education through the selection and allocation function and manipulating the public.

“Strife is the father of all things… Being at variance it agrees with itself: there is a back-stretched connection, as in the bow and the lyre” (Heraclitus,ca. 500 B.C.). Unit one of Four Sociological Traditions by Randall Collins talked about conflict. The term conflict theory was initially created by Karl Marx, but was later developed by other theorist such as Max Weber. Unit one illustrates that the main disagreement is not about conflict existing in society, but that there is an issue when conflict is not openly taking place. When this happens it is a “process of domination” (p.47). The consequence of domination is conflict, which is when people try to proceed in their own interests over others.

After reviewing the lyrics and video, I couldn’t help to see things from the Marxist or conflict theory perspective. A few seconds into the video I realized that the teachers and school are trying to discourage individuality in the student who wrote poetry. It almost gives a feeling that the schools are trying to create robots to enter the world and workforce rather than creative, individual students. For example, the students wear masks to take away their identity and are placed on an assembly line. Our texts states that inequality exists and this style of reproducing students is keeping the lower class in the lower class and higher class maintaining their place on top. Conflict theorists believe that society changes from a conflict and from

Conflict Theory is a sociological theory that views society as a competition for limited resources rather than a system of equilibrium like some sociological theories claim. Instead of saying that everyone is acting the general interest of society, Conflict Theory claims that the only interests that people are concerned with in society are themselves. Due to the fact that resources are limited, organizations and people who are able to get ahold of some of this limited resources will continue to use them in order to stay in power. However, social problems begin to arise when the groups with more resources than others become dominant. The dominant groups will always find a way to stay in power because they are not keen on risking this power

The conflict theory approach emphasizes issues of inequality and change in relation to social class, money, race ethnicity and gender. The conflict theory pinpoints the belief that these social classifications are parasitic: only benefiting one group while negatively affecting another. In particular, the social conflict approach focuses on the struggles that lower-class people face in a world where the rich and powerful benefits at their expense. Persons of the lower-class are often disadvantaged, since they are not given a chance to move ahead and are always stuck at the bottom of the social ladder. Upper-class individuals are able to fully educate their children, and hence, their generation will always be rich and powerful. However, a weakness

Conflict theory is the theory that human behavior in social contexts is the result of conflicts between competing groups, as different social groups, be they class-, gender- or race-defined, have unequal power and access to power, yet all groups compete for limited resources. This inevitably gives rise to tension and conflict, albeit often of the subtle variety, as oftentimes the conflicts between groups have been institutionalized in society to such a degree that the conflicts and tensions are such an expected part of society that the conflict, and inequality, itself disappears from public sight, and consciousness. For example, an adherent of a world systems theory of conflict would point to the global competition for resources, particularly the inequality between rich and poor nations struggling to provide the basic necessities of life to their inhabitants, as evidence of global conflict. Conflict theories seek to explain the interactions of groups within society, and assert that social order is preserved involuntarily through the exercise of power one social class holds over another (Lindsey, 2010, 7). The conflict between groups is not always obvious or apparent, so it must be unraveled and examined in order to identify and establish the impact of such conflict on society as a whole, as well as individual members and social groupings.

This is a research about conflict which should be considered and resolute during a project. Although, six experts are from different background, there are many sufficient methods to deal with different kind of issues during the working. The great mode has used in the research is Thomas-Kilmann’s conflict mode instrument. (Thomas, K. W., & Kilmann, R. H. ,1974). There are five effective approaches are discussed. Each approaches have its positive and negative effects. Also, there are many problems that each expert should consider about themselves which can devote their effort to help finish the project successfully. Achieving mastery through a comprehensive study of all of these methods can finally bring a huge success to the whole project.