Social-Conflict Theory: The Three Major Social Conflict Theories

Social-Conflict theory. This theory is the belief that the few will flourish and prosper at the expense of the many and that society is always in conflict (Witt, 2013a, para. 03). There is a large focus on the fact that everyone in society has a status and that those statuses display the inequality of society putting every person into a social class. Witt (2013a) explains that:
Conflict theory describes a social structure prone to constant erosion and change. Here, social change is pervasive through inherent conflicts built into the system itself. Similarly, conflict management approaches view the conflict that arises among member of small groups as inevitable and inherent in the small group itself. Sooner or later, two people will disagree, perhaps to

the point of changing their personal relationship system.

Conflict arises because of the differential distribution of social power, the powerful garnering the lion's share of all scarce resources for themselves. We may observe the differences in social power between the rich and the poor, men and women, or any given pair of individuals attempting to resolve problems particular to their relationship.
Of the three major sociological theories, the Social-Conflict theory is the obvious choice when compared against the story of Genie. The idea that conflict is always brewing behind closed doors and that society is always in a state of conflict backs up everything that goes on with this story. Genie's life at home was in a constant state of conflict. Her parent's marriage and relationship was in a state of conflict. The decisions surrounding Genie's care involved conflict. Her

living arrangements suffered from conflict. Her mother coming back into her life then giving her up again as well the farce that Ms. Butler put into play to keep Genie in close proximity at all times without the intervention of those charged with her care were both embedded with conflict. The facts are apparent that from the time that this child was born and became a part of society until she was finally settled into a long term care facility for adults, conflict was waiting around every corner. The idea that any two people that share the same space over a given time will experience conflict is a proven fact (Witt, 2013b, para. 07). It can be witnessed every day between spouses, siblings, workers, school children and many others just offering up support to Marx that social conflict is part of our way of life. In the case of Genie, there was so much conflict surrounding her upbringing that she had no route of escape and instead was forced to suffer at the hands of those around her while their personal conflicts enveloped their lives. Genie was a statistic and is a living, breathing witness to the fact that Marx theory was pointing in the right directions from the start.