Karl Marxs Biography

Conflict Theory was derived from the idea of Karl Marx, a sociologist of whom is
best known for his theory of Marxism, a major figure in the founding of sociology and the
one who wrote the Communist Manifesto. Karl Mars was born on May 5th 1818 and passed
away on March 14th 1883 because of cancer. Karl Marx was born in Trier, Prussia (presentday Germany). While he attended a Lutheran elementary school as he was growing up, he
later became an atheist and a materialist. In 1835, Marx enrolled himself in Bonn University
in Germany where he took courses in law but he was much more interested in philosophy and
literature. One year later, he enrolled him at the University of Berlin. Marx soon felt at home
when he joined a circle of brilliant and extreme thinkers who were challenging existing
institutions and ideas, including religion, philosophy, ethics, and politics. Marx graduated
with his doctoral degree in 1841.
After school, Marx turned to writing and journalism to support himself. In 1842 he
became the editor of the liberal Cologne newspaper RheinischeZeitung, but the Berlin
government prohibited it from publication the following year. He then moved to Brussels,
Belgium, where he founded the German Workers Party and was active in the Communist
League. Here he wrote his most famous work Communist Manifesto. After being exiled from
Belgium and France, Marx finally settled in London where he lived as a stateless exile for the
rest of his life.

In London, Marx worked in journalism and wrote for both German and English
language publications. From 1852 to 1862 he was also a correspondent for the New York
Daily Tribune, writing a total of 355 articles. He also continued writing and formulating his
theories about the nature of society and how he believed it could be improved, as well as
actively campaigning for socialism.

Marx's theories about society, economics and politics, which are collectively known
as Marxism, argue that all society progresses through the dialectic of class struggle. He was
heavily critical of the current socio-economic form of society, capitalism, which he called the
"dictatorship of the bourgeoisie," believing it to be run by the wealthy middle and upper
classes purely for their own benefit, and predicted that it would inevitably produce internal
tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism.
Under socialism, he argued that society would be governed by the working class in what he
called the "dictatorship of the proletariat." He believed that socialism would eventually be
replaced by a stateless, classless society called pure communism.

While Marx remained a relatively unknown figure in his own lifetime, his ideas and
the ideology of Marxism began to exert a major influence on socialist movements shortly
after his death. Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human
history, and in a 1999 BBC poll was voted the "thinker of the millennium" by people from
around the world.

Conflict theory

This perspective is derived from the works of Karl Marx, who saw society as
fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. This perspective
emphasizes social control, not consensus and conformity. Groups and individuals advance
their own interests, struggling over control of societal resources.
Those with the most resources exercise power over others with inequality and power
struggles resulting. Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which
the potential for inequality exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on.
Conflict theorists note that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas,
causing them to compete against one another. This constant competition between groups
forms the basis for the ever-changing nature of society .The conflict theory's strength lies in
its emphasis on power and its role in interaction, whether in a micro or macro sense. It speaks
about how resources are limited and that this reality influences the relationship between
people, specifically between the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and the proletariat (workers).
Conflict theory is a way of framing and analysing society and what happens within it.
While he wrote about British and other Western European societies in the 19th century, Marx
focus was on class conflict in particular; conflicts over access to rights and resources that
erupted due to an economic class-based hierarchy that emerged out of early capitalism as the
central social organizational structure at that time. From this view, conflict exists because
there is an imbalance of power, wherein the minority in the upper classes control political
power, and thus they make the rules of society in a way that privileges their continued
accumulation of wealth, at the economic and political expense of the majority of society, who
provide most of the labour required for society to operate. Marx theorized that by controlling

social institutions, the elite are able to maintain control and order in society by perpetuating
ideologies that justify their unfair and undemocratic position, and, when that fails, the elite,
who control police and military forces, can turn to direct physical repression of the masses to
maintain their power. Today, sociologists apply conflict theory to a multitude of social
problems that stem from imbalances of power that play out as racism, gender inequality, and
discrimination and exclusion on the basis of sexuality, xenophobia, cultural differences,

Criticism of Conflict Theory

Predictably, conflict theory has been criticized for its focus on change and neglect of social
stability. Some critics acknowledge that societies are in a constant state of change, but point
out that much of the change is minor or incremental, not revolutionary. For example, many
modern capitalist states have avoided a communist revolution, and have instead instituted
elaborate social service programs. Although conflict theorists often focus on social change,
they have, in fact, also developed a theory to explain social stability. According to the
conflict perspective, inequalities in power and reward are built into all social structures.
Individuals and groups who benefits from any particular structure strive to see it maintained.
For example, the wealthy may fight to maintain their privileged access to higher education by
opposing measures that would broaden access, such as affirmative action or public funding.

Example of Conflict Theory Application to Current Event

Conflict theory can be useful in understanding a current event and conflict; for
example the Occupy Central with Love and Peace protests in Hong Kong. In applying the
conflict theory lens to this event, some key questions will be used to help in understanding
the sociological essence and origins of this problem:

What is going on?

Who is in conflict, and why?
What are the socio-historical origins of the conflict?
What is at stake in the conflict?
What relations of power and resources of power are present in this conflict?

1. From Saturday, September 27, 2014, thousands of protesters, many of them

students, have occupied spaces across the city under the name and cause Occupy Central
with Peace and Love. Protestors have filled public squares, streets, and disrupted daily life.
2. They are protesting for a fully democratic government. The conflict is between
those demanding democratic elections and the national government of China, represented by
riot police in Hong Kong. They are in conflict because the protestors believe that it is unjust
that candidates for Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the top leadership position, will have to
be approved by a nomination committee in Beijing composed of political and economic elites

before they are allowed to run for office. The protestors argue that this is not true democracy,
and the ability to truly democratically elect their political representatives is what they
demand.
3. Hong Kong, an island just off the coast of mainland China, was a British colony
until 1997, when it was officially handed back to China. At that time, residents of Hong Kong
were promised universal suffrage, or the right to vote for all adults, by 2017. Presently, the
Chief Executive is elected by a 1,200 member committee within Hong Kong, as are nearly
half of the seats in its local government (the others are democratically chosen). It is written
into the Hong Kong constitution that universal suffrage should be completely achieved by
2017, however, on August 31, 2014, the government announced that rather than conduct the
upcoming election for the Chief Executive this way, it would proceed with a Beijing-based
nomination committee.
4. Political control, economic power, and equality are at stake in this conflict.
Historically in Hong Kong, the wealthy capitalist class has fought democratic reform and
aligned itself with mainland China's ruling government, the Communist Party of China
(CCP). The wealthy minority have been made exorbitantly so by the development of global
capitalism over the last thirty years, while the majority of Hong Kong society has not
benefitted from this economic boom. Real wages have been stagnant for two decades,
housing costs continue to soar, and the job market is poor in terms of available jobs and
quality of life provided by them. In fact, Hong Kong has one of the highest Gini coefficients
for the developed world, which is a measure of economic inequality, and used as a predictor
of social upheaval. As is the case with other Occupy movements around the world, and with
general critiques of neoliberal, global capitalism, livelihood of the masses and equality are at
stake in this conflict. From the perspective of those in power, their grip on economic and
political power is at stake.

5. The power of the state (China) is present in the police forces, which act as deputies
of the state and the ruling class to maintain the established social order; and, economic power
is present in the form of the wealthy capitalist class of Hong Kong, which uses its economic
power to exert political influence. The wealthy thus turn their economic power into political
power, which in turn protects their economic interests, and ensures their hold on both forms
of power. But, also present is the embodied power of the protestors, who use their very
bodies to challenge social order by disrupting daily life, and thus, the status quo. They
harness the technological power of social media to build and sustain their movement, and
they benefit from the ideological power of major media outlets, which share their views with
the global audience. It is possible that the embodied and mediated, ideological power of the
protestors may turn into political power if other national governments begin to exert pressure
on the Chinese government to meet the protestors' demands.
By applying the conflict perspective to the case of the Occupy Central with Peace and
Love protest in Hong Kong, we can see the power relations that summarize and produce this
conflict, how the material relations of society contribute to producing the conflict, and how
conflicting ideologies are present (those who believe that it is the right of a people to elect
their government, versus those who favour the selection of the government by a wealthy
elite).
Though created over a century ago, the conflict perspective, rooted in Marx's theory,
remains relevant today, and continues to serve as a useful tool of inquiry and analysis for
sociologists around the world.

Characteristics of Conflict Theory

The first characteristic is inequality. This refers to the unequal distribution of money,
gender, class, and age. People who embrace the social-conflict perspective believe that
gender, race, and class should not lead to favoured treatment. An example of this would be
single mothers who are living below the poverty line.
The second characteristic is social class conflict. Social class is often defined as the
amount of education, income, and status people have. As we know, attaining education is one
of the most effective avenues for ensuring employment and an increase in income, which
adds up to higher status or social class. Single mothers most often do not have the income in
order to pursue higher education. This renders them the title or designation of being one of
the lower class groups in our society. If this remains to be status quo, then there is little hope
for these single mothers living below the poverty line.
The third characteristic is social change. The inequalities and conflict of social class is
leading towards a social change. The federal and provincial governments have implemented
different types of financial assistance for single mothers living below the poverty line. The
government has made it easier for these women to apply for student loans so that they may
pursue higher education and job skills.

References

Cole, N. (2014). Conflict Theory Case Study: The Occupy Central Protests in Hong Kong.
About. Retrieved 1 November 2014, from http://sociology.about.com/od/Current-Events-inSociological-Context/fl/Conflict-Theory-Case-Study-The-Occupy-Central-Protests-in-HongKong.htm

Crossman, A. (2014). Learn about Karl Marx, a Major Founding Figure of Sociology. About.
Retrieved 6 November 2014, from http://sociology.about.com/od/Profiles/p/Karl-Marx.htm

Faculty of Education
PAGS6103

Interpretation of Sociology in Education

Conflict Theory

Name

:KamarulArifin bin Mahfodz

ID Number

: PGY140002

Lecturer

: Dr. AbdRazak bin Zakaria

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962)

Mills contributed to modern conflict theory. According to Mills, one of the results of conflict
between people with competing interests and resources is the creation of a social structure.
Social structure refers to the relatively fixed institutions and norms of society that heavily
influence, consciously or not, peoples' everyday behavior (e.g., getting your license at a
department of motor vehicles reflects the fact that social structure dictates who gets to grant
licenses, how, when, and to whom). However, control over the social structure is largely in
the hands of the elite (wealthy), who generally oppose the interests of the non-elite.
C. Wright Mills is known as the founder of modern conflict theory. In his work, he believes
social structures are created because of conflict between differing interests. People are then
impacted by the creation of social structures, and the usual result is a differential of power
between the "elite" and the "others". Examples of the "elite" would be government and large
corporations.