Karl Marx's Social Conflict Theory

Supporting social conflict theory, which was created by Carl Marx, helps to us better understand police and citizen interact. In a Study conducted by Holmes et. al, (2008) Holmes and his colleagues realized that race and class together determines how police and citizen interacts. In the same way, Lersch’s (1998) analysis of citizens' complaints showed that people in lower income societies (miniorites) were more likely to file complaints of police misconduct and to “experience more serious acts of misconduct” than those with more power and resources (Lersch, 1998, par. 38). The main function of the police is to keep the status quo of inequality and to assist the powerful (police and/or Whites) to exploit the powerless (Blacks and minorities)