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Do You Agree with Conflict Theory

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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. Karl Marx, a philosopher, journalist, and revolutionary socialist, is considered the father of conflict theory. He pointed out the continuous competition for power between different classes in society and how the powerful groups exploit those with less. He suggested social order is …show more content…

their influence in the making of social decisions, and their ability to impose values, will also be greater than those of the lower classes"(McShane, Williams 129-130). If you are on the bottom and you don't like something that is going on with people in power, you could have a revolution or stage a riot. Anytime you are dealing with the situation where people are fighting over the use of land or who's going to have what status or privilege, we are then seeing things through the eyes of a conflict theorist. Money is a big part of this. Being a member of an aristocracy or a powerful group is part of this. So in addition, we also see minority groups in conflict with the dominant groups. We see exploitation and domestic violence between men and women and sometimes children. There are numerous perspectives of conflict theory on the law. Most of the conflict theorists talk about the law as a way of maintain inequality. That the law is there to advance the interests of people in power, usually people with money. There are also conflict theories that argue about morality or moral entrepreneurs, people that use the criminal law to impose their morality on other people despite the fact that it is not widely held belief and an example would be things like prostitution or other vices that are widely utilized by large segments of the population, but there are smaller segments

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