Sociological theories - Essay Example

Conflict theory and Oscar Pistorius The story of Oscar Pistorius, best characterizes how conflict theory depicts society. Mainly, Pistorius’ both legs were amputated at an age of 11 months, however, he still competes in events for able bodied athletes, as well as for single below-knee amputees. Despite the fact that Pistorious won an able-bodied world track medal in 2011 world championship in athletics, he had really fought hard (Norman and Moola 1267). Actually, even before participating in 2012 summer Olympics, Pistorius had tried several times for a number of years to be participate in the Olympics with no avail.

Significantly, the fight by Pistorius represents a conflict between competing interests in the society. The resources here can be viewed as participating in Olympics and other events with able bodied persons. However, the amputees were not participating with able bodied people, which similarly indicates inequalities in reward, which they athletes would benefit from (Goldstein 69). Mainly, there were two reasons why Pistorius was not given a chance participate in the Olympics initially; first, a number of people thought he was advantaged over other athletes who did not have prosthetic limbs, and afterwards, IAAF disqualified him from participating in the 2008 summer Olympics.

Moreover, another handle he had to jump was attaining the standard time that need to be met before participating in Olympics. As a result, there arose a competition over the inclusion in these events, which Pistorius fought for. Actually, Pistorious appealed against the decision by IAAF, which disqualified him, and was later given a chance to compete with other able-bodied athletes. Similarly, he worked for over 4 years before attaining the standard time the required before participating in Olympics (Goldstein 78).

The life of Pistorious is a perfect example of how conflict theory defines how the society works.Works citedGoldstein, Warren S. Marx, critical theory, and religion: a critique of rational choice. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2009. Print.Norman, Moss and Moola, Fiona. Bladerunner or boundary runner’?: Oscar Pistorius, cyborg transgressions and strategies of containment. Sport in Society, (2011), 14.9:1265–1279