ADJUS-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Class Conflict, Conflict Theories, Proletariat

• School: Diablo Valley College
• Department: Administration Of Justice
• Course: ADJUS-120
• Professor: sinsel

Document Summary

Conflict theories: conflict criminology predominantly emerged in the 1960"s, prior to 1960"s criminologists focused predominantly on the functionalist perspective. Consensus held society together to keep it functioning well: conflict theory recognizes there are various groups in society and that they have conflicting interests, needs and values. Conflict therefore arises when groups are in competition for power, resources etc. Capitalist society structured into capitalist class (bourgeois) and workers (proletariat). Bourgeois derive power from owning the means of production" (i. e. factories and other businesses in which people work). The uneven distribution of wealth and power seen as the source of conflict. Bonger argued that ownership of the means of production" is concentrated in a very small number of people. In contemporary society conflict theory can help us understand the powerlessness and criminalising of behaviour engaged in by, for example, young people, indigenous people, homeless people etc.