Group Conflict Theory

This controversial issue has recently come to the forefront in the court of public opinion. After talking with friends, acquaintances, family members, and co-workers, it appears many are ambivalent about this subject. It is astonishing how people think the display of the Confederate flag is racist, but they still believe the state should have the right to fly it. While many people remain uncertain about the controversy, there were two prominent opinions that categorically oppose one another.

Thesis Statement: In America today we are faced with many problems, a major issue facing us right now is the idea of confederate monuments to be removed.This affects a group of people that have a personal connection with the history of the confederate monument, but for many of us it’s an insult because some of the confederate monuments were built on an idea to keep white supremacy alive.As a community we have to find a way that we can keep the extremest happy with their monuments without anyone being seriously injured.

Although the majority of Americans consider the Confederate flag irrational today, they have not always considered white supremacy as a problem. White superiority was considered the norm for Americans since the early stages of America as an independent country up to the Civil War era. In this case, slavery and racism were the “individual villainies”. Those who “rose above the individual villainies displayed” were repressed while “the balance had yet to be struck between order and freedom”. Even though racism is still evident in present-day America, the majority of Americans look scornfully at Confederates for their attitudes towards minorities such as

Even though conflict with the police is a major issue that must be addressed, it is not the only problem that stems from our society’s reliance on race for determining a person’s status and value. Another topic that is cause for discussion and reform is the use of the Confederate Flag in America. This issue is not a new one, but just like issues with the police, it recently gained more popularity on both sides of the disagreement. Those in support of it’s use both on personal property and on

The Confederate flag remains to be a hot topic that is drawing a lot of controversy in the state of Mississippi. Some individuals feel that the flag has a right to be flying all over the state; while, others can see it removed completely. The purpose of this paper is to discuss in detail four important topics as follows: (1) the history of the Confederate flag, (2) the economic impact, (3) state agencies and municipalities’ stance and (4) the Legislative position concerning the issue. The flag originated as a banner, but in today’s society is recognized as a symbol. The symbol of the flag represents the Confederate war. Because of strong emotional ties Confederate ancestors have a particular perception of the flag. However, everyone does

What Happened: [Referring to you], the email states that, “She is definitely not pulling her weight on this project.”

The role of these polls has become more of an instruction manual for representatives than anything else. They vote according to the polls and what public sentiment is at the time. According to Sooner Polls, “public opinion polls help guide policy by giving decision-makers impartial information about what the public wants.” The role of public opinion polls has become rather important in our system of government. These polls have mixed together public opinion and legislative action. For example, there is a daily presidential approval rating tracker that directly ties presidential action to public opinion. According to America’s Failing Experiment, polls have magnified the increasing democratization and mixing of public opinion and presidential action. The role of these polls has become to directly tie the public with their legislatures and the executive. These polls have further magnified our representatives preference in being delegates rather than trustees. Our representatives no longer represent what they believe to be our best interests, but rather what we tell them our best interests are. These polls have served to erode the distance that the founders placed in the constitution between the people and their Senators, Executive, and

To test theory that explicit racial appeals have become a viable political strategy we plan to conduct an experiment using a national sample of 2020 respondents who will participate in a five part Internet panel study.

One of American history’s famous battles involves the diverging of Northern and Southern states. Even when this time period itself is taught, at least from my experience learning it, that divide between Northern and Southern ideology seems even more pronounced. As United States territory expanded, so did hesitations of citizens on both sides—both Northerners and Southerners thought strongholds were put in place to sway governmental opinion, and consequently, actions. In order to bring the nation back together, the Civil War would decide America’s future.

The southern states’ demographic have increasingly become more white-dominated as Blacks migrated upward to the northern states (Campbell, 2010). Reinforcing southerners’ collective white social identities. The southern culture is characterized around rigidity and radical conservatism (Kuklinski et al., 1997). As until today, Confederate Flag is utilized as their identity marker. According to James H. Kuklinski, the omnipresent racial bias in the South is an idiosyncratically southern phenomenon that is not merely an outcome of the mixture of individuals who reside there. Contemporary southern whites exercise alternative sources of expression of resent

Despite taking place 150 years ago, the Civil War is still an event that weighs heavily on America’s conscious. The effects of the Civil War continue to alter American politics, and daily life. Many southerners still feel ill will towards the North, terming the war, “The War of Northern Aggression”, and recalling fondly their “Lost Cause”. Battles over states’ rights and the power of the Federal Government continue on, forming the ideological bases of our main political parties. A war was fought between neighbors, brothers, and former countrymen, something that our country had not endured before, or has since. The rift that was created between opposing sects in the country was not one that could be swiftly remedied. The war’s end did not preclude immediate reconciliation, as Reconstruction was a long and arduous process that was not done to perfection. Recently, there has been controversy over the use of the Confederate flag, as people are trying to reconcile honoring their heritage, while still understanding what that heritage stood for. The war provided our politicians with a model of how a President should act, giving us possibly our finest Commander in Chief. The Civil War has remained so compelling to Americans because of its unique nature, how its history should be viewed, and the historical impact of the war’s famous actors.

With approximately over three hundred seventeen million people in the United States, politicians seek for general opinions in order to make a popular change. Seeking for this information is primarily accomplished with public opinion polls. As each Individual desires favorable change, conducting these polls invites challenges. According to Jason Robert Jaffe, public opinion polls are either inaccurate or misleading. With various political issues existing, polls allow politicians to adjust legislation and their elections accordingly. Furthermore, public opinion polls grant politicians with valuable information in order to operate fairly and make the favorable adjustment.

3. Write an essay in which you discuss how public opinion differs among various groups in America according to race and ethnicity, religion, and region. What impact, if any, may this have on each group's’ level of political participation and responsiveness by elected officials?

The United States of America is comprised of citizens who have rights given to them that are explicitly written in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. All of these people exhibit diversity. They have different religious and political beliefs, different sexual orientations, and different nationalities. Each man or woman has these freedoms given to them by the Constitution; however, public sentiment does not always follow the freedoms outlined in the Constitution. Racial conflict is an example of sentiment reflected in society that has existed for decades upon decades and has always been in the undertones of American society. Racial conflict is the most important and prominently recurring

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.