Class Conflict
Class conflict refers to the tension and antagonism between different social classes, particularly between the working class and the capitalist or ruling class. This concept is rooted in the Marxist theory of society, which posits that the struggle for control over resources and power is a fundamental aspect of social dynamics. Class conflict often shapes political and economic systems, influencing policies and societal structures.
6 Key excerpts on "Class Conflict"
eBook - ePub- Francis Castles(Author)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Conflict is generated between classes because of their necessarily differing economic interests. Those individuals who possess property necessarily exploit the class which does not. One class benefits from the existing relations of production, whereas the other would benefit from its overturn, and the consequent unfettering of new productive forces. Where this contradiction, or creative tension, becomes too great the exploited class rises and usurps the power in the state in order to release the new economic potential. It should be noted that Marx assumes a single line of conflict in society. The industrial conflict of owners and wage-labourers is carried into the political sphere in virtue of the fact that the ruling class utilizes the state as a mechanism for consolidating its domination. The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. 23 This theory, whatever its value as a determinate explanation of all social and political conflict, has the major virtue of stressing the particular relationship of one element of social structure, the economic arrangements of society, and the types of conflict which arise in society. As we have mentioned in passing, this insight is the basis of one discipline within the social sciences, economic history, which demonstrates the extent to which economic variables effect historical change. Even if not all conflict is economically determined, there is considerable empirical evidence that much political behaviour is motivated by the struggle to acquire a greater share of scarce resources. It is difficult to believe, moreover, that the coincidence between economic and social changes in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and the similar coincidence between efforts to secure economic modernization in the developing countries and endemic political instability, are merely accidental...
eBook - ePub- Shaw, Mae, Mayo, Marjorie(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Policy Press(Publisher)
...This will be discussed further on, but it is important to emphasise at this point that the state, at both local and central government levels, never again allowed its own community workers such political space explicitly to work within such a paradigm. This chapter sets out to trace ways in which the issue of class has (or has not) been addressed within community development theory and practice, drawing on key texts and personal experience. It also seeks to describe the extent to which the mainstream practice of community development has been able to locate itself solidly within, and build alliances with, more explicitly class-based forms of political struggle. The nature of class Understandings of the meaning of class have changed over the years since Karl Marx first enunciated his classical theories of class and class struggle. In the period prior to Marx’s writings, class had begun to be used as a general term to describe the hierarchical ordering of society, with terms such as ‘lower class’ and ‘ruling [or upper] class’ being used to denote people’s general position in society, linked to wealth and landholdings in particular. Marx’s particular contribution, with his collaborator Friedrich Engels (Marx and Engels, 1848; Marx, 1849), was to locate an understanding of class in historical materialist terms. This analysis focused on the relationship between labour (the proletariat or working class, who have nothing to sell but their labour) and the bourgeoisie (the owners of capital) in the context of rapid industrialisation. According to this analysis, the productive process at the centre of capitalist economies required the exploitation of worker by owner (often mediated by the petty bourgeoisie, such as foremen / middle managers) and this was the basis of Class Conflict. Marx’s theories were therefore rooted in an understanding of class divisions as an economic phenomenon, with economic power being exploited for the benefit of a small group of owners...
eBook - ePubResolving Structural Conflicts
How Violent Systems Can Be Transformed
- Richard E. Rubenstein(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...p.83 4 Class Conflict AND THE PROBLEM OF CRIME Breaking the silence about social class In the field of conflict studies, as in many other disciplines, class struggle is the conflict ‘that dare not speak its name.’ Perusing the most comprehensive and popular introductions to the field, one finds repeated discussions of the categories of nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion in conflict, but very little, in most cases, about social class. In part, this reflects a general taboo prevalent in many capitalist societies against ‘talking about class’ or admitting that social classes – workers and owners in particular – play a significant and contentious role in politics and culture. To cite one well-known example, U.S. newspapers like The Washington Post and The New York Times seldom print the phrase ‘working class,’ much preferring to use the broader and vaguer term ‘middle class.’ 1 Interestingly, the taboo appears to be weakening among Americans at large, even while it remains potent among the news media, politicians, and many academics. In 2015, some 49 percent of Americans identified themselves as working class or ‘lower class,’ with 51 percent – a considerable drop from previous 60 percent-plus figures – calling themselves middle or ‘upper middle’ class. (Virtually no one admits to being wealthy.) 2 In conflict studies, however, there is a more specific reason to avoid focusing on social classes: the assumption that most analysts interested in Class Conflict are Marxists and are therefore hostile to conflict resolution. Peter Wallensteen’s approach to this issue in his Understanding Conflict Resolution is fairly typical. In a subchapter on basic needs, he states: p.84 This thinking is part of a materialist tradition and constitutes a significant element in class analysis. But Marxist theorists seldom have come to an understanding of conflict resolution...
eBook - ePub- Gill Hands(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Teach Yourself(Publisher)
...6 Class, class struggle and revolution In this chapter you will learn: how Marx defined class how capitalist society developed about ideology and false consciousness about workers’ power and organization how class consciousness could lead to revolution. Introduction Long before Marx, historians had discovered the existence of social classes, but class awareness and classification became more important in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century as a result of the French Revolution. Adam Smith was one of the first English writers to look at class, in an economic sense, in The Wealth of the Nations : here he describes Class Conflict between ‘masters’ and ‘labourers’. Today there are many ways of defining class in society. Sociologists might see class as defined by the functions of people in a society, for example managerial workers, white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, etc. or they may define class according to income or by cultural tastes and habits. Marx did not define class in any of his works and used the term rather loosely to mean different things at different times but he believed that class is defined purely by economic factors. He saw that classes are made up of individuals who share a common relationship with the means of production. At the time he was writing, he saw that the capitalist economy had divided society into two opposing camps: ‘two great classes opposing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat’...
eBook - ePub- Ewan Ingleby(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
...Chapter 4 Conflict theory and social work Conflict theory Conflict theory is influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx. It is a sociological perspective that is similar to functionalism, with its focus on the social system. Conflict theory is different to functionalism due to the importance that is placed on economics. The perspective explores the material circumstances that produce conflict within social systems. Taylor et al. (2004, p15) emphasise the importance of the concept of ‘ideology’ to conflict theory. Ideology is produced by beliefs and values which are regarded as being based on material circumstances, and is considered to support the values of the rich and powerful sectors of social groups as opposed to the social system’s poor and powerless. Marx is associated with conflict theory and he was especially interested in those aspects of the social system that appear to be contradictory. He also talked about the terms ‘infrastructure’ and ‘superstructure’. Whereas the infrastructure relates to all tangible aspects of the economic system, the superstructure corresponds to systems of belief and the ideas that are generated from these beliefs. According to Marx, the economic infrastructure has a critical influence on the beliefs and ideas of the superstructure. He draws attention to the importance of social classes. The traditional Marxist emphasis is placed on the existence of two main social groups: a ruling class and a subject class. The contradictory circumstances of these two social classes form the basis of conflict within society according to conflict theorists, and Marx argues that there are a series of fundamental contradictions within capitalist societies. This interest in contradictions links Marx’s philosophy to the work of Georg W. F. Hegel, and the exemplification of such contradictory relationships can be seen in the traditional working arrangements for factories...
eBook - ePubClass Conflict
The Pursuit and History of American Justice
- Gregory C. Leavitt, Gregory C. Leavitt(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...9 Class Conflict in the Early Twenty-First Century When U.S. households are ranked according to how much wealth they hold, they form a lopsided picture. • The bottom 40 percent of all household have only about 1 percent of all the wealth in the nation. • The top 1 percent of all household have nearly 30 percent of all the wealth; the top 5 percent, 55 percent of the wealth; and the top 20 percent, 80 percent of the wealth (Quadrini and Rios-Rull 1997:22). Class Conflict in American society is an ongoing turmoil that invades numerous facets of social existence. Differences in class have affected the standard of living and life chances across the breadth of American history. The volume of Class Conflict in the early twenty-first century has been amplified by a number of important trends and events. In the past three decades Americans have become increasingly aware of the growing wealth and income disparity between elite and common people. Presently, the richest 1 percent of Americans receives about 25 percent of the national income (Noah 2010:1). “In 2004, the last year for which good estimates are available, the top 1 percent owned 34.3 percent of all marketable wealth” (Wolff 2007, Table 2. in Domhoff 2010[1967]:11). Since 1980 and the election of Ronald Reagan, class inequality in wealth and income has increased to an unsurpassed historical high. Not since the Gilded Age has the divergence in wealth and income between the top tier and common people been so extreme (Phillips 2002; Noah 2010; Domhoff 2010[1967]). In the current presidential campaign (2012) wealth and income disparities have become a central issue reflected in the debate over which class should bear the greatest tax burden to alleviate the growing national deficit. The escalating wealth and income gaps have been well and widely covered by media sources, thus keeping the issue in front of the American people...
