WDW101Y1 Chapter Notes -Social Conflict Theory, Ralf Dahrendorf, Social Conflict
21 Nov 2013
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The goal of social conflict theorists is to explain crime within economic and social contexts and to express the connections among social class, crime, and social control. The conflict theory is a general sociological approach that sees criminal behaviour as caused by economic inequality, and criminal law as being defined by those in power. Conflict theorists reject the view that the law represents the values of the majority. Marx believed that the economic conditions of capitalism had put workers at the mercy of their capitalist employers. This led marx to believe that this method of producing materials was oppressive. Production has two components: 1) productive forces (ex. technology, material resources); and 2) relations of production (exist among people producing goods and services). The most important relationship in industrial culture is between the owners and the people who actually do the labour. Marx believed that societies change through slow evolution or sudden violence.
