Sociology: Conflict Theory And Theoretical Perspectives

“In sociology, a theory is the framework for analysis that outlines what to focus on and provides predictions about logical outcomes within the framework.” (Durkin & Carrothers, 2015, Ch. 1.3, para 1) Sociologists have been trying to create a single theory to give explanations and understandings towards social and human behavior. However, this has only caused more theoretical perspectives to sprout and has led to the creation of three main theoretical perspectives within sociology. These perspectives are used to explain the social behavior and phenomena that are experienced and shown by humans. The perspectives are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. This paper will focus on conflict theory and the influence that Karl

Conflict theory is an interesting theoretical perspective in sociology because it accounts for what is true for today’s society and human nature as a whole usually. The fact that Marx studied economic and political structure to come up with class conflict and by extension conflict theory. This means that how humans choose their leaders as well as their trade and industry system is directly linked and affected by conflict theory, as well as social behavior and culture. Class conflict and conflict theory were also from slightly differing times, as Marx predated the subject that is sociology. “But his ideas on power and domination have been influential in informing our understanding of stratification and inequality in society.” (Durkin & Carrothers, 2015, Ch. 1.2, para 7) These are the main reasons that conflict theory, and the work of Karl Marx’s that helped in its creation, are so

1.2, para 7) One such example of false consciousness is organized religion because of actions that these religions state you must do to become holy or worthy of a good afterlife. These actions include options such as sacrificing, not coveting, and non-violence. Marx believed that this complete difference in power, wealth and resource distribution would continue until the proletariat would rise against the bourgeoisie to take what should have been shared. However, this has not come to pass as human nature and social behavior hinge so heavily on class conflict as well as the later theorized conflict theory of sociology.

“Marx had two fundamental insights. The first was the importance of economic forces in shaping human society. The second insight was the dynamic nature of capitalism in its own right.” (Portes, 2017) These insights are what allow the class conflict to develop and continue to exist. They are also a reason that conflict theory is so prevalent within society regarding human social behavior. Marx’s class conflict theory within economic and political setting gave birth to the conflict theory within sociology. This means that human behavior and nature is tied heavily to how much conflict there