Theories of Social Conflict - Essay Example

Introduction: Man is social animal and he needs to live the life of co existence. The concept of society was formed out of this necessity of living the life together. The society is made of the complex relationship among the human beings. Sociology is the systematic study of human society. The sociologists like Weber, Durkheim, Parsons, and Marx have promulgated different approaches, to the study of sociology. The division of these approaches “may sometimes be thematised as: functionalism (Durkheim, Parsons), social action theory (Weber, symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodolgy), and conflict (Marx) (Jonathan Joseph 2003). Among these different theories the social conflict theory is the theory which is based on Marxism. The conflict theory discusses on how certain interactions take place through conflict. People are involved in conflict to acquire more and more power. According to this theory the society is divided into two major groups, one is the group of poor people while the other is the group of wealthy people. The social gap between these two sectors of the society can never be eliminated. The theory further propounds that the powerful group always use its power to exploit and thus prove its domination over the less powerful group. Money is an effective mechanism which is responsible for this unending conflict between rich and poor. This doesn’t happen on individual or just group level but it happens among the poor and the rich countries. Thus the social conflict theory states that the powerful groups tend to interact in a destructive way. Social conflict is a struggle over values or claims to status, power and scarce resources, in which the aim of the conflict groups are not only to gain the desired values, but also to neutralize, injure, or eliminate rivals.” (Theories of Social Conflict, Anthony Oberschall) The social conflict theory is thus applicable not only on individual or group level but it is applicable in the political scenario also. The base of the conflict is the power and the money, which one person or group has obtained and other has not. It is true that the power is gained by the individual with the help of money. Many writers, poets have written on the never ending topic of social inequality. The inequality will never be eradicated totally from the world until it does not leave the human mind. Key words: social conflict theory powerful group, less powerful group, social inequality Etiology: Exploitation of the lower class is the phenomenon which has been going on since ancient time. There has always been a wide gap between the rich and the poor class. The gap became wider at the advent of industrialization. Exploitation is the major purpose of the powerful class and for attaining this purpose, two methods are used. First method is the brute force and the second method is economics. If we study the entire human history we can realize that the class conflict is one of the major issues in the entire history of human beings. To discuss on the social conflict theory of Marx, a recent news story has been taken into consideration. The news is about the exploitation of a female senior citizen from lower class. If observed it carefully Marx’s theory of conflict can be explained by using this event. The news can be analyzed on different levels. Let’s first see what the news is about: It was the news which took place in Moscow on 2nd June 2010. A mayor of a Russian town was alleged of beating a 69 year old lady woman. She was beaten due to a very imprudent reason and that was she was slow to open the door when the mayor showed up at his office late at night. The woman was on the night duty at the administration building in the Pacific town of Shakhtyorsk. The mayor Vladimir Khapalov struck her with the door when she opened it and hit her two more times. He then kicked her in the hip area after accusing her of sleeping on the job and demanding her resignation. At one point the woman fell and hit her head on a radiator, the report said. She suffered scrapes, bruises and concussion. The woman then was hospitalized for 20 days afterwards. Khapalov has now been suspended and faces a criminal charge of violent abuse of authority. The major point here in this news is that the woman was beaten and accused by the mayor for not performing her duty. It was the punishment given to her for not opening the door and sleeping during her duty time. Punishment is acceptable but the method of punishment was against the human rights. The tendency of torturing somebody comes from the power and the insolence, which came with money. This is the social conflict that arises due to the class discrimination. Here the mayor is the representative of the wealthy class while the woman is the representative of the poor and less powerful class which is discussed by Karl Marx. The reason behind beating the woman was actually to exhibit his power and to neutralize, injure and eliminate the rival. The basic cause behind social conflict is the property, status, and income. Karl Marx posited a class struggle between proletariat (the workers) and bourgeoisie (Owners of Capital). It can be best described as a class conflict. The mayor here was from the upper class with status and rights. He is the bourgeoisie while the woman is the proletariat. There is less humanitarian approach in the powerful group of the society. The woman in this news was inferior to him in many ways. First of all she is a woman, generally supposed to be inferior gender to men as far as physical strength is concerned. Here the important type of conflict analysis is the gender conflict approach. This is the factor which focuses upon the inequality and conflict between women and men. Second thing is that she is inferior to him as she is the senior citizen. Senior citizen is the community which is supposed to be the dependent community because of the physical inability. Thirdly she was from low class. Class is generally decided by the work the person is doing. She was a security guard. Apart from her physical limitations and her old age she has to work because of her financial constraints. The social conflict approach, in this incident, highlights how factors such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and age are linked with inequality. Many factors are important to shape the human behavior. Being a social animal he needs the help and support from other people. The concept of society emerged out of this necessity. The society plays a crucial role in shaping the personality of the man. It is the society which gives him identity and status. There are two major reasons of being social for the human being. First is the survival and second is the existence. Symbiosis emerges from the need of survival while social conflict arises from the need of existence. Prediction: The chosen event is best suitable for the paradigm called social conflict. In the blowing breeze of individualism, human liberty, there should not be the place for such class conflict. Every human should be respected and he should be considered as a human being apart from his status, his work. The democracy lies upon these doctrine. Every individual is aware of his rights as a human being and he expects the respect and care from the society. When Karl Marx propounded the concept of social conflict the period was basically dominated by feudalism, and capitalism. Slavery was prevalent in the contemporary society. Apart from the spread of democracy, equality and humanism the psyche of the society has not changed completely and it has not yet been matured enough to accept the principles propounded by Karl Marx two hundred years ago. The sense of superiority and inferiority is still there in the minds of individuals. Here the superiors are paying the working class or the people from lower class and in exchange the working class renders them the service. They are paid by the owners. But in the new world of individualism it is not the proper way of behavior. First of all physical exploitation is totally opposite to the communism and democratic approach. The major issue here is the rejection of accepting the humanitarian attitude. This is one incident we have taken for our analysis. But everyday such types of incidents are happening. We read them watch them or hear them everyday. The exploitation is still going on from the powerful group to the less powerful group. It is the rule of nature that the strong will survive and conquer the weaker animal. There are innumerable cases of child exploitation, gang rape, child rape, molestation, domestic violence. They are very common in the world of freedom and democracy. This malevolence still exists in the society and this is the tendency to conquer the other person by means of exploitation. Prevention and Societal Response: The prevention of class conflict or the discrimination is demanding in these days. The globalization is hitting every aspect of our life. It is not just the economic aspect but on the social aspect also the influence of globalization is spreading. The social interactions, exchanges of different social and cultural values are some of the major outcomes of globalization. The people from all over the world are coming closer to each other apart from their cultural, religious and other differences. It is the collective responsibility of the community and the society to take initiative to eradicate the class conflict and treat each and every human being respectfully. Every nation has its separate laws for preserving the human rights and imparting equal opportunity to every person apart from his race, religion, class, language, and color, political or other opinion. The international organization such as UNO has also adopted the universal declaration of human right on December 10, 1948. Hence this day is observed as International Human Rights Day. Article 5 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights focuses on the torture and exploitation of human. It says that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It is the responsibility of the society to encourage the young people to marriage out of their caste, religion, nationality etc so that the walls of discrimination will collapse. Conclusion: The social conflict can be both constructive and destructive. “The greater number of individuals, groups, and societies in conflict that are engaged constructively, the greater development of human potential.” (Otomar J. Bartos, Paul Ernest Wehr, 2002) It works as a tool of establishing and maintaining group identities. This group identity later on gives birth to the superior and inferior status and thus it divides the society into two major groups. Group identity is not always negative or harmful but if it comes in context of social equality it is definitely risky for the healthy society. Hundred years back in India the caste system was dominating. Two thousand years back the varna system was prevalent. The entire social edifice was built on the varna system. There were different groups and every group had its own task to perform. Thus there was social stability due to the conflict behavior of the people When the caste system appeared in Middle age in India, the situation became hostile. The people from the lower caste were treated in a very inhumane ways. It used to be a bad omen or inauspicious incident even if their shadow falls on the upper caste person. They had to do all the mean works and they had to serve the upper caste people. They had been deprived from social interaction. They were not allowed to enter in the temple and worship God. It was a sin to touch these people and thus the system of untouchability was prevalent in India. It was a class conflict which is explained by Marx. The conflict which Marx has discussed is harmful to the society that wants to establish equality. In this social process the powerful people rule over powerless people and the people who are being ruled, get deprived from the equal rights and equal opportunities. Inequality lies everywhere, in every culture, every community. This social inequality exists in different forms such as race gender, status, money etc. It was there in America in forms of racial discrimination. It was there in forms of caste discrimination in India in forms of upper and lower caste. It is there in Middle East especially Muslim countries in forms of gender discrimination. The social conflict generally takes place in the process of interaction. During the rule of British the people started accepting the modern and new individualistic approach and thus the people from lower caste became aware of their rights as a human being and thus the hostile feelings started developing. The efforts are being taken on local national and international levels but the situation will not improve until the sense of equality develops in the mind of the people. Self realization is important than statutory provisions. Sources: 1. Jonathan Joseph, ‘Social Theory: conflict, cohesion and consent’ pg218, Edinburgh University Press, 2003 2. Theories of Social Conflict, Anthony Oberschall 3. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100602/od_nm/us_russia_mayor 4. by Jonathan Joseph Pg6, chapter 1,Social Theory: conflict, cohesion and consent, , Edinburgh University Press, 2003 5. Pg6, “Using Conflict Theory” by Otomar J. Bartos, Paul Ernest Wehr, 2002 Cambridge University Press Read More