Conflict Theory Flashcards
Conflict Theory
- : looks at society as a competition for limited resources
-macro-level approach
-Karl Marx, who saw society as being made up of two classes, the bourgeoisie (capitalist) and proletariat (workers), –> who must compere for social, material, and political resources (such as food & housing, employment, education, & leisure time.
Social institutions (like government, education, and religion) reflect this competition in their inherent inequalities and help maintain the unequal social structure
Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat
capitalist vs workers
Economic sphere & Marx
- focused on “mode of production and “relations of production”
^Ex: the industrial factory and the unequal power between workers and factory owners - -The bourgeoise owns and controls the means of production, which leads to exploitation due to the profit motive.
- In this arrangement, proletarians have only their labor to see, and do not own or control capital
False Consciousness
-Marx’s term
- the proletarians inability to see her real position within the class system, a mis-recognition that is complicated by the control that the bourgeoisie often exerts over the media outlets that disseminate and normalize information
Class consciousness {Marx}
-some of the structural constrains that prevent workers from joining together in what Marx called cc
-:a common group identify as exploited proletarians and potential revolutionaries
Max Weber
- semi agreed with Karl Marx
- also believed that in addition to economic inequalities, there were inequalities of political power and social structure that caused conflict
-noted that different groups were affected differently based on education, race, and gender, AND
that people’s reactions to inequality were moderated by class differences and rates of social mobility, as well as by perceptions about the legitimacy of those in power
Ida B. Wells
-theorized a connection between an increase in lynching and an increase in Black socio-economic mobility in the US from the late 1800s into the mid 20th century
-examined competition within the feminist movement where women fought the right to vote but was headed by white women who excluded Black women from the suffrage
W.E.B. DuBois
- also examined race in the U.S. and in the U.S. colonies from a conflict perspective AND emphasized the importance of a reserve labor force, made up of Black men
-double consciousness
Double Consciousness
used to describe an individual whose identity is divided into several facets
C. Wright Mills
-sociological imagination
-also used conflict theory to examine systems of power and the ways in which government, military, and corporations formed a power elite
CRITICISM
- it tends to focus on conflict to the exclusion of recognizing stability
-^ many social structures are extremely stable or have gradually progressed overtime rather than changing abruptly, as conflict theory would suggest
Feminist Theory [Gender and Conflict Theory]
- the critical analysis of the way gender affects societal structures, power, and inequality
-microsociological bc they examine the gendered nature of human interactions
- Patriarchy: “natural” male control
-Intersectional Theory
Patriarchy
-:a set of institutional structures (like property rights, access to positions of power and sources of income) that are based on the belief that males (patri means “father”) are and should be dominant
Intersectional Theory
- examines multiple, overlapping identies that include Black,Latina, Asian, gay, trans, working class, poor, single parent, working, stay-at-home, immigrant, and undocumented women, etc.
-this synthesis of analytical categories takes it into consideration the various lived experiences of a more diverse range of women
