The Conflict Theory: The Theory That Resonate Most With Me

In this theory analysis, I will discuss two theories to explain why officers commit callous acts, why they tend to use excessive force against certain types of citizens and why there are only a few officers who perform these acts. Over the years police departments have received a considerable amount of public scrutiny due to their use of excessive force. As discussed before, police serve a vital part in society as prosecutors; however, police brutality is very common. One may ask, why do some law enforcement officers participate in abusive behavior against citizens, despite knowing their obligation to ensure the public safety? Using two theories, social conflict and control balance I will attempt answer that question.

There are roughly 800,000 people living within the United States that is under the protection of an executive order during the Obama administration called Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. These children, commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” have grown up in the United States. They attended elementary school here, many graduated high school here, and many went on to become successful adults living in the United States, but as of September 5th, 2017 the DACA program was shut down by the Trump administration, pending a trial in Congress. This means that those hundreds of thousands of individuals living under the DACA arm will no longer be legal residents in the United States.

The Psychodynamic explanation says that obsessions and compulsions are signs of conflict. These conflicts arise when an unconscious wish is at odds with socially acceptable behaviour. It is considered that when these conflicts are extremely repulsive or distressing the person can only deal with them indirectly by transferring the conflict to something more manageable such as hand-washing, checking or ordering. The ego of people with OCD is disturbed by their obsessions and compulsions and this leads them to use ego defence mechanism. Freud argued that OCD is linked to the anal stage of development.

“The ethos of conflict has over the decades become a catalyst for an ethos of hate,” Page 280. Ethos means “the configuration of central societal shared beliefs that provide a particular dominant orientation to a society.” This means that ethos is a set of goals and beliefs that help define and keep a society together. It also creates a sense of social identity for a country and its people. Those beliefs stem from the history of the area and the people of the land, and history often shapes the present and future conditions and beliefs. An ethos of conflict comes into play when conflict with another, in this case country, has been so on going that the animosity shapes the societies beliefs and actions. Israel and Palestine are both caught in

Once our country became more industrialized and the population grew in the cities the concept of a traditional family changed. Women started careers along with their husbands, instead of the woman doing all the cooking, cleaning, educating, sewing, basically all household duties. Men only did the outside work such as farming, yard work, and maintaining the home as far as repairs. The children would help either the father if they were sons or the mother if they were daughters. The family was also responsible for the sick and elderly of their own personal family.

The functionalist theory is a sociological approach emphasizing how parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. An example of this is racist beliefs discouraging a minority group from trying to question their lower status in order to maintain stability. Another example of functionalist theory is racial ideologies justifying and encouraging existing practices for social movement. Conflict theory is an approach that assumes that the social structure is understood the most in terms of conflict or tension between minority and majority groups. An example of this is an idea called blaming the victim.

Conflict perspectives are often viewed as the opposite of the structure-functional viewpoint; meaning, not all family practices are good or beneficial for each family member. Conflict is often viewed in a negative manner, but there are many benefits of having healthy conflict in the home. In my family experience, conflict has brought compromise, solutions, and opportunities to learn other's perspectives. Conflict has also brought a better understanding of how to improve relationships and solve disagreements.

During interview, Kolby reported having a large size circle of “associates.” He stated that he trusts all of them and considers his family members as his best friend. When asked what he and his friends like to do for fun, he noted we find “something to do.” Kolby reported that most of his friends are older, and reside in the neighborhood and acknowledges that some of them use alcohol or drugs. He admitted that a handful of his friends have engaged in illegal activity and he has engaged in illegal activity with his friends.

Social conflict theory is the second major theoretical perspective used in sociology. The conflict theory is paramount in sociology because it is used to perceive the society as a framework through which groups are not equal and thus results to changes and conflicts. A good example that can be used in this case is the schools with different groups of students; students has different abilities, opinions, pay different amount of fees depending on their ‘status’, and students are interested in different games; some will love football, other volleyball, and others don’t like any game. The study examines the social conflict theory as a theoretical perspective in sociology.

The first passage, I believe, is an example of a conflict perspective. The women work in “exploitative conditions” to earn wages as low as 4000 rupees a month. In the last article we read it mentioned that the girls in Bangalore “would earn the legal minimum wage, 7,187 rupees per month, or about $108…”. Comparing the two wages, it is obvious that the women in this article are being exploited for their labor in the benefit of another group; the big factory owners. Not to mention the fact, that they are being paid below minimum wage. But, the reliability of the statement from the last article is questionable due to the lack of evidential support of where the statistic came from. With our knowledge of how the girls lived in the last article while

Everyone loves Netflix- especially when it allows one to re-watch their favorite “guilty pleasure” show that no longer airs on T.V. One of those shows being “Desperate Housewives”, which follows the lives of four women going through the struggles of every day life in a unique setting- suburbia. In season 5 episode 11 “Home is the Place”, the narrator closes the show by saying “Everyone needs a lovely home in suburbia. Mostly, so the neighbors will never suspect what’s going on inside. Behind these freshly painted walls you will find parents wracked with guilt, wives tired of struggling, lovers who have been lied to- yes, everybody needs a lovely home in suburbia.”

I strongly believe that if each person would reach their ultimate potential in their lives together, the society as a whole would be better off. The problem is each area of our life seems to be in constant conflict. The U.S.A. at this very point in time is in a major political conflict with one candidate wanting to build a wall and another wanting candidate wanting to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Is this the view point I love? I resounding no, but this seems to the one most represented to me in this country. As a Christian, I also see this within a spiritual context, light against the darkness. Unfortunately, we can see radicalized groups take this to the extreme in their terrorist’s acts.

There used to be a time where there was a lot to be said about a person who chooses to show and present themselves in a social setting. According to the online-article “Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?” , a persons identity plays an essential role to exist, as well as the direction that they take (Taylor, Ph.D.). As a result, an individual’s true sense of personal integrity and self-worth would increase. Of course, there have been numerous changes in society, but most of them are due to growth and twenty-first-century technology.

This is a research about conflict which should be considered and resolute during a project. Although, six experts are from different background, there are many sufficient methods to deal with different kind of issues during the working. The great mode has used in the research is Thomas-Kilmann’s conflict mode instrument. (Thomas, K. W., & Kilmann, R. H. ,1974). There are five effective approaches are discussed. Each approaches have its positive and negative effects. Also, there are many problems that each expert should consider about themselves which can devote their effort to help finish the project successfully. Achieving mastery through a comprehensive study of all of these methods can finally bring a huge success to the whole project.

Conflict theory is the theory that human behavior in social contexts is the result of conflicts between competing groups, as different social groups, be they class-, gender- or race-defined, have unequal power and access to power, yet all groups compete for limited resources. This inevitably gives rise to tension and conflict, albeit often of the subtle variety, as oftentimes the conflicts between groups have been institutionalized in society to such a degree that the conflicts and tensions are such an expected part of society that the conflict, and inequality, itself disappears from public sight, and consciousness. For example, an adherent of a world systems theory of conflict would point to the global competition for resources, particularly the inequality between rich and poor nations struggling to provide the basic necessities of life to their inhabitants, as evidence of global conflict. Conflict theories seek to explain the interactions of groups within society, and assert that social order is preserved involuntarily through the exercise of power one social class holds over another (Lindsey, 2010, 7). The conflict between groups is not always obvious or apparent, so it must be unraveled and examined in order to identify and establish the impact of such conflict on society as a whole, as well as individual members and social groupings.