Lecture 8 - Marxist and Conflict Theories Flashcards
Marxism (class conflict)
Marxists tend to advocate for a revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist system as the only way to solve power differentials and conflict, while
conflict theorists are more open to reforms that do not advocate revolution.
* Deviance perspective: Marxist and conflict theorists are interested in why and how some groups are defined as deviant and how their behavior, now defined as deviant, gets translated into illegal behavior through
application of the law.
James Egan Story
a Canadian LGBTQ+ rights activist who, in the early 1990s, challenged the Canadian government for discriminating against same-sex couples.
Case: Egan applied for spousal benefits under the Old Age Security Act, he was denied because the Act didn’t recognize same-sex partners.
He took the case to court, arguing this was discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Egan on the benefits, but for the first time, the Court said that treating someone unfairly because of their sexual orientation is against the equality rights in Canada’s Charter.
Dialectical materialism
The idea that change in society happens through conflict, especially between different social and economic classes, and that material things (like money, work, and resources) shape our lives more than ideas alone
William Bonger
He forwarded the idea that capitalism is a system in which business owners are encouraged to dominate and take advantage of the others in society—the workers and the consumers—in order to make a profit.
false consciousness
when people don’t see the true nature of their social or economic situation, often because they’ve accepted beliefs that work against their own best interests.
Steven Spitzer
argued that capitalism was changing to advanced (or monopoly) capitalism. Criminalize dissent and opposition.
Gusfield (development of conflict theory)
- Conflict arises between groups when their interests and needs overlap.
- Groups that do not overlap will have less conflict.
Austin Turk
- focused on the use of law as a socially controlling agent.
- He saw law as a resource that groups struggled to control.
- He argued that laws were more likely to be enforced when they represented cultural values or were being enforced on subjects
who had very little power
Application of Marxist and Conflct theories
Studies have used conflict theory to examine racial discrimination
Critiques of Marxist and Conflict theories
- DIsmisses social consensus
- Applicable in all contexts
- Conflict theory has not identified how power is established but rather exercised
