Opposing Views Of Conflict Theory By Karl Marx

Conflict theory is a sociological perspective that Karl Marx wrote about and researched tremendously. Karl Marx was a German sociologist who was very interested in economics and politics and how they affected society. He came from a wealthy family, which gave him many advantages to get educated. He believed society was not a whole, instead was divided into groups based on class. He created Marxism which was about class inequality and the conflict between the classes. This created a theory called Conflict Theory. Marx believed that capitalism was the reason for social inequality between the proletariats and bourgeoisie. He believes conflict is strictly economic in that everyone is judged and treated based on their status or wealth. Marx wrote
Conflict theory is a macro level analysis because it looks at large groups of society and compares them with individuals. It is believed that the wealthy have more power than the poor. The workers are mistreated by the owners and creators. Marx believes that all conflict happens due to the inequality between people based on wealth and status. Today, conflict theorists base inequality on many things such as race, religion, gender, status in the economy, and politics. Different groups have different values and norms, this tends to cause conflicts between individuals. This theory states how everyone in society is striving for more control, power, and resources which causes everyday conflicts. There are many strengths as well as weaknesses to this theory. The advantages of this theory is the concept of equality. This theory really tries to show the separations between classes and to figure out ways to make everyone equal. The disadvantages of this theory is that it focuses on economy too much to the point where it bases all social life on the economic standards on individuals when so much more is involved. It also forgets about the many other inequalities of society like race, age, religion, disability, and