The Conflict Theory Of Economic Inequality In Modern Society

In 1879 Henry George wrote an article titled “Progress and Poverty”. In this article he discussed the ongoing industry and he stated that “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent.

Conflict perspective emphasizes on inequality through the division of groups among poor and rich class.

Under Karl Marx’s conflict theory, society has two classes of people: the owners and the workers. The theory suggests that owners basically exploit the workers, depriving them of the basic human necessities such as food and shelter. Meanwhile, the workers believe that they are taken care of adequately, and they rely on the owners for their well-being. But the owners do not have the workers’ best interests in mind because they want to produce wealth by any means. “Potent social forces [capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, home ownership] do exist and being homeless is to lose a stake in several of them” (Neale, 2007,

Marx's theory on Capitalist exploitation is an incredibly deep theory, but to explain it in a nutshell, it is that the working-class people are improperly compensated for their work. The rich, the higher-ups, they continue to expand their wealth by exploiting the working class, the Capitalist system not only allows but effectively demands that Capitalists increase their wealth, long-term or short-term, whether at the cost of the working-class or not. There are three “values” to take into consideration, the use-value, the exchange-value and the

The extremes of income are the main cause of class related conflicts. The presence of a middle

Income concentration in United States has changed along with the spending patterns of the individuals. This has induced and widened the pay gap between the wealthy and the middle class. One individual’s demand is now another’s necessity which is why the income ladder is hard to grab now. Although financial aid by the government does help the middle class students to acquire good quality education, but this is not enough as the wealthy can get what they want even if they possess lesser prospects.

Conflict theory sees societies comprised of groups with conflicting values and interests. (Vold et al. 1998)

Another concept that brought about inequality among the bourgeoisie and proletariat is the labour theory of value. As stated in the textbook Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory, “One of the basic truths of capitalism is that it takes money to make money, and the more money a business owner has at his or her disposal, the more ability the business owner has to generate profit-making schemes” (Appelrouth and Edles: 25). In this case, the bourgeoisies are at a benefit as they own the means of production, while the proletariat are at a disadvantage as they don’t have capital to make money. Marx’s ‘general formula for capital’ explains the class and power relations that predominate in modern capitalist society through the formula M-C-M. Marx describes this law of value to be beneficial to the bourgeoisies as they increase profits and capital. Bourgeoisies are able to do this because they have the money (M) to buy capital, which converts their money into commonality (C), which they then use to produce other commodities that are sold for money (M). Bourgeoisies predominate the proletariats through power relations as the formula is inversed for the working class, C-M-C. The working class sells their labour through commodity (C), which then is exchanged for money (M) and used to buy commodities (C) necessary for survival. The C-M-C

Conflict theory is when conflicts arise due to the limited resources, distributing power, and status unevenly also causes conflict between different social classes. Conflict theory helps to explain why our society is unstable. This theory examines the inequalities in money, gender, class, and age within today’s society.

Have you ever noticed a divide in society between the privileged and who's who are not? Such as someone who is rich versus someone who is poor. This is what we call Conflict theory. How conflict theory is applied to our everyday lives can be seen through many different ideas brought about by these conflict theorists. Whether or not I agree or disagree with this theory, will be determined by the factors and situations that conflict theory has to show.

In this paper I will apply the conflict theory on social inequality in genders. Social isseus starts from fundamental problems inside society and it reflects inequality as a result. Disparities between the sexual orientations constitute a different measurement of imbalance and a pervasive rule for circulation of life chances which can't be credited to a solitary cause. Two spaces are of remarkable significance: the job framework and family life. The other focal part of disparities between the sexes concerns the part in the family or in the gang. Autonomous from their utilized position, ladies are a great deal more responsible for family and housework than men. The division of work in the family makes ladies in charge of youngsters and, notwithstanding

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.

Economic inequality has been a long-debated issue within the social sciences. The origin of the most recent debate has roots in Karl Marx’s works during the 19th century. Since Marx, the equality of distribution has become a heated topic in a wide range of social science from economic to social and political. Marx saw the growing inequality and poor working conditions in the beginning of the 19th century as a never-ending process of infinite accumulation of capital. This literature subsided due to the improvement of working conditions

The conflict theory explains that there is always a disparity that exists in the society due to the presence of limited resources as well as the variations in the skills and knowledge. It will always happen that in the society there are the wealthy and elite, the middle-class people and the poor who have the lower status in the society. The children from these social statuses will always have varying education success, employment opportunities and eventually economic success (Zucman, 2014).