SOC 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Conflict Theories

• School: UC Riverside
• Department: Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies
• Course: SOC 001
• Professor: Jennifer Simmers

Document Summary

Sociology : systematic study of social interaction at a variety of levels. Systemi study assumes social behavior is regular and patterned. Social interaction : the process of acting toward and reacting to people around us. Each individual is unique in some ways but like other people in most ways. We are more alike than we are different. Sociological imagination : the ability to see the connection between individual lives and larger social influences. Theories are tools and evolve over time. Contemporary theories grew out of the 1950s and 1960s. Society is a complex system of interdependent parts that work together to ensure a society"s survival. Conflict theory examines the ways in which groups disagree, struggle over power, and compete for scarce resources. Karl marx predicted that conflict would result from widespread economic inequality. Conflict theory studies the haves versus the have - nots .