However, from a different perspective Social Conflict Approach, Karl Max defined the Social Conflict Approach as a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and changes. Conflict theory usually emphasizes on negative, conflicted and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike functionalists who defended the status quo, avoid social change and believe people works together to effect social order, conflict theories challenge the status quo, encourage social change and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the weak and poor. Now the problem is how far do social conflict theories relate to the educational system? As illustrated by Marxist theorists Althusser, education socially …show more content…
This approach basically linked to feminism, an idea that support of social equality for women and men. The importance of gender-conflict approach is to make us aware that men are usually placing in position of power over women and the importance of women to the development sociology. The example of Gender-Conflict Approach is the gender pay gaps between men and women in the workforce. Research shows that women only make just 77 cents to the men’s dollar. Why do gender gap in pay and wealth exist? Simply put, they are the product of historically rooted gender biases that still thrived today. The assessment of labor value is strongly by biased perception of individual qualities though to be determined by gender. These often break down as gendered binary that directly favor men, like the idea that men are strong and women are weak. The next example is the role of woman in conflict. Research examined that the contributions of women to society has produced some observation that are generalized to many culture. In fact, women are ubiquitous to most cultural settings and “where there are not, it is not because they lack the ability or interest in a situation but because there have been deliberate efforts to exclude them”( Lengermann et al in Ritzer (2008), pg. 451). In western country for example, regardless of their demograpghic consideration, women constitute or are forced into …show more content…
How Social Conflict Approach can be linked to this incident? There are four keys questions that can guide us to sleep over it. The first one is what is going on? Second, who is in conflict, and why? Followed by what is at stake in this conflict? The last question is what relations of power and resources of power are present in this
Structural functionalism is a macro analysis view defined as “The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.” In education, it focuses on how it serves the needs of society. Functionalists view education as a way to pass on knowledge and skills. While functionalists believe that schools sort students based upon their academic knowledge, Conflict theorists believe that students are sorted based on their social/financial class. Conflict theory is “The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetual differences in power.” Conflict theorists believe that students of lower status won’t have the same opportunities in school as students of a higher class. A student of a family with a
The conflict perspective, or conflict theory, derives from the ideas of Karl Marx, who believed society is a dynamic entity constantly undergoing change driven by class conflict. Conflict theorists generally see social change as abrupt, even revolutionary, rather than incremental (https://courses.lumenlearning.com).
Sociological imagination highlights how society places the two sexes in unequal positions of wealth, power and privilege. It is therefore very useful to look beyond the gender itself and see the global issues associated with it. There are differences regarding the type of gender in different countries, the levels of gender inequality and the amount of violence that are necessary to maintain both systems of difference and domination. Women were always viewed as weak, sensitive, dependent and unintelligent so the society formed a view that they have to sit home, do the housework and raise the children. They were always considered less skilled, incapable of doing a hard work and even now women are more likely to be paid less than man. Women are more likely to be abused and they are less likely to have access to formal power. According to the United Nations, “At least one in five of world’s female population has been physically or sexually abused by a man at some time in their life” (UNFPA, 2000: p. 25).
Social conflict theory is a 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.[citation needed]
A social conflict theorist might explain our educational system in the U.S. as competitive like we are all competing against each other to get the best paying job. This is different from the functionalist because they would see it as all of us working together to achieve a goal.
Conflict Theory sees social life as a competition, and focuses on the distribution of resources, power and inequality. Unlike functionalist theory, conflict theory is better at explaining social change and weaker at explaining social stability. Conflict theory has been critiqued for its inability to explain social stability and incremental change. For example, a conflict theorist might ask, "Who benefits from the current higher educational system in the U.S.?” The response is for a conflict theorist accustomed to imbalanced amounts of wealth, is the wealthy. After all, higher education in the U.S. is not cheap. The education system frequently siphons through poorer individuals, not because they cannot contend academically, but rather that they cannot afford to their education, monetarily. For this reason the poor are unable to achieve higher education, they are generally also unable to gain higher paying jobs, and, therefore, they remain poor. This tehn becomes a vicious cycle of poverty.
The conflict perspective puts an emphasis on social inequality. The this perspective views society as different groups working against each other; they are competing for power and resources. This theory explains how our societies basic values come from the ruling class. Groups can be separated from social class, race, gender, or religion.
According to the conflict theory on social stratification, those in the upper levels of a stratification structure hold a monopoly over the community's or society's desirables and the use of their monopoly to dominate others. In "Imagine a County", it reads about the US school systems that are rigged in favor of the already-privleged, with the lower caste children tracked by race and income into deficient and demoralizing classrooms. Public schools budgets are determined by property taxes, allowing the higher income districts to spend more money than the lower income districts. When talking about conflict theory, there are the bourgeoisie and the proletariats, which in this instance are the wealthy and the less fortunate. The wealthy schools are packed with well stocked libraries, and the poor schools are lucky to have up to date books. This not only causes conflict between the two "classes", but a high level of inequality as well. These elements of this society tend to contribute to the instability and inequality of this society.
Conflict theory is an argument that deviance is deliberately chosen and often political in nature. Conflict theories also show competition for gender dominance in gender inequality. Men would be the dominant sex in this theory, making women the obvious subordinate sex. This hierarchy is prominent in every society in our world today. This means most standards and rules are usually made around men, and in turn things are usually seen through the male perspective. Since this is the standard view in our society, and the view we have all come to know, it makes narrowing the inequality gap between men and women a very difficult task. Gender inequality could also be seen as political in nature as well. Politics play an immense role in gender inequality and could definitely help stop this issue in America, but would it really make a difference? Laws may change to help protect women and their rights but it can never change the way that people think and raise their children.
It is based on four principles: it is a trait of society, it from generations to generation, it is universal, it involves inequality. Two theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber, are the prominent contributors. How gender, race and class plays a role in a society is clearly stated. Gender stratification occurs among men and women when men are given better recognition and opportunity than women. Feminist theory uses the conflict approach to examine the effect these social stratifiers play. Conflict theorist is of the opinion that stratification is harmful to the society. The economy benefits the upper or middle class over the working class, white over other race or skin
Conflict theory allows us to see the conflict between social life and capitalism. Marx saw the power struggle between classes and felt that it is wrong to ignore inequality. One of the biggest inequalities between the two classes was the alienation of the workers (Morrison, 2006). Only one class, the wealthy gains the full benefit of the labor. An example of this is a worker who builds something that they will never be able to afford. Because of this the worker loses control of their production. This is what conflict theory is, the power struggle between two
Gender Inequality is when men and women are separated by the belief that one gender is superior to the other in forms that deny full participation or restrictions to one’s ability to live an equal life. Ever since the dawn of time there has been one gender superior to the other and to this day there are still gender differences in the political, economical and physical life of a male versus a female. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is one theorist that I chose to help explain this trend of males having power over women. Gilman was an evolutionist theorist; her point of view helps me explain how gender inequality came about and how women are viewed during the late
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
Gender inequality is a social problem that is widespread in society. It is referred to as the unfair treatment of individuals based on one 's gender. Historically, laws have opposed women to go to school, access certain jobs, and purchase property. Gender inequality has been experience through culture – honor-killing, sex-selective abortion, and society – occupation, gender roles, and education. The social expectations of men and women differ between cultures that are constructed socially and culturally. These expectations are displayed in roles, and behavior believed both by men and women and their interdependent relationships. Gender inequality can be further understood through the structure of sexism. Discrimination takes place in gender inequality for the reason that men and women are treated on the basis of gender alone (Amjad, R., Ashfaq, M., Kousar, R., Saghir, A., 2010).
Gender relates to the social constructions and relations between men and women and it does not simply look at maleness or femaleness. Development is a multidimensional concept but in general it entails social upward mobility and empowerment but not limited to this. In studying gender relations and development it is of great importance to look at