Objectives: 

After completing this module, you will be able to:

• Identify key theorists who have contributed to our understanding of social conflict
• Explain the key differences between these theorists
• Compare and contrast the contemporary relevance of the key ideas about conflict that these theorists have offered
• Analyze and assess how the ideas of conflict theory can be used to identify, explain and respond to the needs, issues and problems that face communities today

Required Materials

Select one article from each of the two very broad topical areas listed below. Your task is to apply the key concepts of conflict theory to analyze the conflicts discussed in each article. Focus on the theoretical perspectives rather than the classic theorists. Come to class prepared to discuss how to apply conflict theory to community conflicts in general -- what you learned about using conflict theory to understand, analyze, and hopefully resolve conflicts within and between communities. This is our interest, not a discussion of the content of the article or of the author's conclusions, but what you gained in being able to apply theoretical perspectives to understand processes and outcomes in communities. I strongly encourage you to work through the Critical Thinking Exercises below prior to attempting your synthesis.

Turner pp. 32-59

Babones, S. (2015) What is world-systems analysis? Distinguishing theory from perspective. Thesis Eleven 127(1), 3-20. DOI: 10.1177/0725513615575324

Class Preparation

Reading lists for Week 4. Select one article from each list (1) Immigration, Emigration, Displacement and (2) Closer to Home.

Materials for Class

Was Marx right? 

Critical Thinking: Understanding and Applying  

1. The early conflict theorists -- Spencer, Marx and Weber -- all attribute contlict to the capitalist economic system. They share this in common -- conflict is basically class conflict. How do Simmels ideas differ somewhat from this core concept of the other early conflict theorists?

2. How do the three theorists differ? What distinguishes one from the other?

3. Do you concur that economics and more broadly class are THE driving force behind transnational conflict? Community conflict? Individual conflict?

4.Dahrendorf draws on the experience of Nazism and the work of Simmel and others to expand the ideas of the early conflict theorists. What is the key difference between Dahrendorf's analytical conflict theory and the earlier theorists -- particularly Marx and Weber? What ideas does he have in common with Marx and Weber?

5.Coser, on the contrary, calls more on the ideas of Simmel in his conflict theory. What ideas of Simmel does he incorporate into his theoretical approach?

6. Look carefully at the diagramatic presentation of Turner's synthetic model. Can you identify the key ideas of Weber, Marx, Spencer, Simmel and Coser in his theory?

7. Apply the concepts discussed on pp. 44-45 of Turner concerning conditions of non-elite mobilization for conflict, conditions weakening state power, and conditions increasing likelihood of elite mobilization. Come to class prepared to apply these ideas to understand how conflict between communities can arise and persist, drawing on your own experience or examples in the news. I chose for my exercise the prolonged conflict between Tutsi and Hutu villages in eastern Africa. I have worked in this area and visited farms of both Hutu and Tutsi people, who live in close proximity -- sometimes in the same village.

8. How does Collins tie individual level violence to violence and conflict in larger social units like communities or even nation states? Can you apply his ideas to understand and explain the origin and persistence of your PIN?

9. Collins is the key theorist in introducing the idea that conflict is inherent to human interaction at every level -- from individuals to the state. Come to class prepared to give examples of interaction rituals that occur face to face or through social media, including some examples of hostile (conflict laden) interactions.

10. Third-wave critical theory are largely the result of the failure of the classic conflict theories, parhaps with the exception of Collins, to explain why class conflict has not led to a global change in the economic system and structures of capitalism. What is Wright's explanation of the "failure of THE revolution"?

11. Wright argues that transformative change can and will occur. How might Wright's symbiotic metamorphism "look" in the context of communities rather than nation states? Is transformative change possible within communities or is this kind of change possible only at larger social scales?

12. Wallerstein brings us back to a firm belief that massive global economic change will occur. I want you to engage in a mental exercise for a moment. Think about the rural communities that surround Gainesville. Some are tied closely to Gainesville economically -- Newberry is a good example. Others are economically very isolated from Gainesville -- Archer and Live Oak are good examples. Can you apply Wallerstein's ideas about world systems to understand why these communities differ so much?