Sociology Theories - Social Conflict

In class on Friday, the discussion topic of the day was Sociology Theories. We have not covered everything yet as there is much to think about. The first theory discussed was Social Conflict. What is it, one might ask? To quote the definition from class: "Social Conflict is a struggle of those with power and those without power, or in short 'struggle over power'"

Living in a Capitalist Economy is a major contributor to this power struggle.  In an economy like this there are two groups of people involved. To put this in simple terms, you first have the Capitalists (aka as a class of people or the owners of nature) and the laborers or workers.

To begin to understand what this all means, lets start with the Capitalists or the owners of nature. Before hearing this concept in class, I never thought of our society in this way even though I pay very close attention to what is going on in the world. However, it is crystal clear that this is exactly what is going on. You have the few that have the power and control everyone else.

For instance, lets think about our food supply, which is directly connected to nature. You have institutions or classes of people, if you will, such as the FDA, the USDA and others who create stringent rules about what America is allowed to consume. They control the organic farmers (aka the laborers) and charge them a pretty penny to be able to say they are certified organic. The irony here is that the FDA and USDA also allow themselves to be controlled by another group of Capitalists (Monsanto, DuPont, PepsiCo, Coca Cola, etc) who pay them to not enforce GMO labeling laws without a care that so much of our food supply is tainted and poisoning consumers. This is just one example of many.

 The second group, the laborers or workers are ironically the majority. We work our whole lives to make enough money to live and survive and it gets harder and harder to do in this economy.  There may be the few who live a more comfortable life, but many will struggle through the power struggles of past by being forced to work harder and longer hours to make ends meet without receiving much back. By that I mean that the power struggle is a story as old as time. There has always been the workers making the Capitalists rich whether monetarily or with power. Occasionally, however we workers fight back.

One of the most recent records of workers fighting back is Occupy Wall Street (1% vs. 99%). It is a perfect example of the fight to even the playing fields. People are simply sick and tired of being forced to work themselves to death for little payback, while making the power hungry Capitalists richer and more comfortable. Its not fair, but it is the reality we live in. Will the tables ever turn forcing the Capitalists to give back more or maybe even chip in to keep the world running smoothly? Its doubtful, but if the 99% keep fighting hard, you never know.