Conflict Perspective

Domhoff, William. 1983. Who Rules America Now? New York: Simon and Schuster.

Power and Conflict:  Marx, Weber, Habermas, Foucault, Domhoff

When two people want one thing there will be conflict. The one who wins the conflict has the power.

 

Marx                              ===>       Conflict Theory

Weber                             ===>       Conflict Theory

                                                -----> Stressing culture and meaning, he paves the ground for Symbolic Interactionism

 

Marx's Concept of Conflict

Relations in production involve conflict.

• Conflict is rooted in the economic sphere where people fight for resources.  Even in the Family!

• Some people own the means of production, and others not.  

  • proletarians  

  • capitalists  

  • bourgeoisie  

• Different classes have different interests.

  

Summary of Conflict Theory

• The basic idea is that people are using their power to gain benefits.

•  Power definition:

"Power [is] the chance of a man, or a number of men to realize their own will in social action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action"

( Max Weber cited in Wrong)

•  Indicators of power used as social control to gain benefits.

Analyzing a problem you ask the important questions:

A) Who benefits?

B)  Who governs?

C) Who wins?

 

Similar to Marx, Domhoff argues that the distribution of power is class related.

 

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Redistribution from the bottom to the top is more extreme today.

1976: The top 1 percent has 20 percent of the nation wealth

today: The top 1 percent has nearly 40 percent of the nation's wealth

source: Holly Sklar. Upper-Class Tax Cuts, Working-Class Soldiers. AlterNet April 11, 2003

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15616

 

 

What keeps the upper class so strong?

I. Pooling resources

II. Family Offices

III. The Myth of a Mobile Society

Social mobility is the ability for children to end up in another social class than their parents.  This is often measured in net income or on social prestige scales of profession.

1. The American Society is not mobile

2. The Myth is Instrumental: motivator for the lower classes.

 

IV. Political Influence

A) What are the resources of people who get into power positions?

B) How do wealthy people (legally) influence politics

C) Ownership of the media

D) Consulting

E) Appointment to Government

 

V. Structural Stability through Socialization

 

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QUESTION: Is our criminal justice system deviant?

Five Examples

 

1. I asked a German policeperson about his opinion about his U.S. colleagues.

 

2. Table: Incarceration rate in Western Democracies

Nation	Incarceration Rate (per 100,000)
U.S.	519
France	84
Germany	80
Italy	80
Netherlands	49

 

3. We have approx. 7Million people under control of the criminal justice system. Of which 3.000 people are on death row.

 

4. Most of the prisoners in the U.S. are incarcerated for nonviolent crime.

 

5. Legal Practices

·       Headhunting

·       Plea bargain

·       Warrentless searches

Confiscating real estate, cash, and cars of people suspected to be involved with a drug related crime.