David Duong

Sociology 001

Professor Alvarado

12/13/17

Conflict Theory in Homelessness

Homelessness is perhaps something that nobody ever wants to happen to them, however

it is unpredictable. It can literally happen to anybody at any moment in time. Whether its for

reasons such as financial problems, abandonment, mental health, etc. It is pretty much a disease

that can infect anybody, however the percentages/chances of becoming homeless differs to each

individual and the lifestyle they live. Homelessness in America is something that is definitely

rising throughout the years. According to an online article, over 500,000 people all across the

United States are homeless, with about half of them being over 50 years old. These statistics are

quite a sad thing to think about, and I fear it will only get worse every single year. Based on all

of this information, I came to ask myself, how does homelessness socially happen? Karl Marx

and his idea of conflict theory is perhaps the best answer to this question.

Karl Marx is a German philosopher best known for creating the Communist political

ideology. He is also the father of one of the four paradigms of Sociology. He created what is

known as the conflict theory. This theory infers that everyone in a society is in a conflict due to

the limited resources that are in the world. If we truly think about it, this is true in society today,

and has been true for quite sometime. Thousands of years ago, society was perhaps the most

equal it has ever been. This was when hunter-gatherers existed, where everybody had no social

status and had to do the same thing to survive, which was to hunt and gather for food! Karl Marx

called this type of living primitive communism, where everything and everyone is essentially
on the same level of living. However, in the Middle Ages, feudalism created many social

constraints in society. Due to the fact that there was a social ranking system, some people's lives

were quite different compared to others. The highest class on the system being the nobles and

kings, they had no problem surviving and getting food. They lived in royalty and had food

gathered and specially made for them based solely on their rank. Not only that, the poorest

people in the society, also known as peasants, were the ones that were gathering the food and

making it for the nobles. The peasants in a way are the homeless people of that time. In this

society, there was a ton of food to go around, however the food was not evenly distributed,

therefore making others having to work more in order to survive. This is essentially what causes

the poor to stay poor and the rich to stay rich, and I feel this is still happening in society today.

If we compare the lifestyle from the Middle Ages to society today, we would find many

similarities. Although we have no king or queen in the United States, social rankings still exist

and will probably exist for quite some time. In modern day society, we still participate in Karl

Marxs idea of conflict theory. There are many people in this world that have less than others and

more than others. We tend to fend for ourselves and try to make the best lives for us before we

worry about other people and there are a lot of people in this society that get rich, and stay rich

by making sure that poor people stay poor. This is a perfect example of conflict theory. The rich

or people with higher power in general tend to take advantage and use the poor in order to

maintain their power and status. They gain power through capitalism and social constraints in

society, in which causes social rankings, and essentially homelessness.

Based on all of this information, Karl Marxs idea of conflict theory is a great example on

why homelessness exists. It exists primarily due to the fact that everything in society is based on

competition and who can gather the most resources. Every social individual is born into a social
ranking and it is up to them to determine whether they go up the ranks, go down, or stay stagnant

to where they began. In my opinion and based on Karl Marxs conflict theory, due to the feud in

resources, homelessness mainly occurs because the individual starts at a lower ranking, and isnt

capable of gathering enough resources for themselves to maintain their lifestyle. This then causes

them to lose their home and have to fend for themselves at an even more difficult level.

Works Cited

2016's Shocking Homelessness Statistics. Social Solutions, 9 Jan. 2017,

www.socialsolutions.com/blog/2016-homelessness-statistics/.
 Ultius. An Analysis of Homelessness Using the Conflict Theory. Ultius, www.ultius.com/ultius-

blog/entry/an-analysis-of-homelessness-using-the-conflict-theory.html.

Applying the Conflict Theory to the Issue of Homelessness. Marvelous-Essays Blog, 16 June 2017,

marvelous-essays.com/blog/applying-the-conflict-theory-to-the-issue-of-homelessness.html.

Jenkins, Nick, director. Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology. Karl Marx & Conflict

Theory: Crash Course Sociology, 17 Apr. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3igiwaeyc.

State of Homelessness Report. National Alliance to End Homelessness,

endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-

report/.