Dahrendorf(1959, 1968) as cited by Ritzer (2000)

SOCIETYSOCIETY

•This is a theory of right and wrong This is a theory of right and wrong which means literally “An action is which means literally “An action is right if everyone agrees that it is.” right if everyone agrees that it is.” 

-CONSENSUS THEORYCONSENSUS THEORY

-CONSENSUS CONSENSUS THEORYTHEORY

•See shared norms and values as See shared norms and values as fundamental to societyfundamental to society

•Focus on Focus on social ordersocial order

-Social Order takes place if people will do their tasks and follow what is expected of them. Examples, obeying traffic rules

Social order can be achieved through Social control. Rules and regulations lead to social order.

Social Control is the means by which people are led to do their expected roles. If society is to function effectively and efficiently, its members must act the way they should be as members of society.

•This theory’s excellence lies in the This theory’s excellence lies in the fact that debate, dialogue, fact that debate, dialogue, discussion, and perspective-taking discussion, and perspective-taking would continue until every qualified would continue until every qualified member of the community came to member of the community came to see the same truth. see the same truth.

-Strengths of Consensus Theory:Strengths of Consensus Theory:. .

•It is all-inclusive. In theory, every person It is all-inclusive. In theory, every person involved in the decision-making-process involved in the decision-making-process would be consulted and all opinions would would be consulted and all opinions would be measured as equally importantbe measured as equally important..

-Strengths of Consensus Theory:Strengths of Consensus Theory:. .

-Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:

•Communities these days are too big to get Communities these days are too big to get everyone’s vote on every issue; decisions everyone’s vote on every issue; decisions on the right course of action would never on the right course of action would never get decided successfully since the process get decided successfully since the process to reach consensus would be very difficult. to reach consensus would be very difficult.

•Some people are wiser, better listeners, Some people are wiser, better listeners, more agreeable, and have a better more agreeable, and have a better understanding of right and wrong than understanding of right and wrong than others do. So, it is not advisable to others do. So, it is not advisable to attempt to get everyone to agree all the attempt to get everyone to agree all the time to know what is right. time to know what is right.

-Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:

•Finally, morality is about right decisions, and just Finally, morality is about right decisions, and just because a group of people gets together and because a group of people gets together and decides to do a certain thing does not necessarily decides to do a certain thing does not necessarily mean it is actually right. mean it is actually right.

-Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:

Conflict theory- emphasizes the role of coercion and power, a

person's or group's ability to exercise influence and control over others, in producing social order.

- a disagreement or clash between opposing ideas, principles, or people

- there is a dominance group and the subordinate group

- It states that a society or organization functions so that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits, which inevitably contributes to social change such as changes in politics and revolutions.

It is the theory that a continual struggle exists between all different aspects of a particular society.

The struggle that occurs does not always have to involve physical violence.

It can pertain to an underlying struggle for each group or individual within a society to maximize its own benefits.

- The essence of conflict theory is best epitomized by the classic 'pyramid structure' in which an elite dictates terms to the larger masses.

- All major institutions, laws, and traditions in the society are created to support those who have traditionally been in power, or the groups that are perceived to be superior in the society according to this theory.

- This can also be expanded to include any society's 'morality' and by extension their definition of deviance. Anything that challenges the control of the elite will likely be considered 'deviant' or 'morally reprehensible.'

- In summary, conflict theory seeks to catalogue the ways in which those in power seek to stay in power. The conflict theory basically states that all problems are caused by different groups and their status and how they compete for the necessities in life.

Primary assumptions of modern conflict:Primary assumptions of modern conflict:

1. competition 2. structural inequality 3. war 4. revolution

The following are four primary assumptions of

modern conflict theory:

1. Competition. Competition over scarce resources (money, leisure, sexual partners, and so on) is at the heart of all social relationships. Competition rather than consensus is characteristic of human relationships.

2. Structural inequality. Inequalities in power and reward are built into all social structures. Individuals and groups that benefit from any particular structure strive to see it maintained.

3. War. Even war is a unifier of the societies involved, as well as possibly ending whole societies.

4. Revolution. Change occurs as a result of conflict

between competing social classes rather than through adaptation. Change is often abrupt and revolutionary rather than evolutionary.

Social Scientist of Conflict theory:

Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Samuel Bowles William Waller Hannah Arendt

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain dominance and power in social systems

Friedrich Engels(1820-18595)

                              

Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895) was a German social scientist and philosopher, who developed communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator, Karl Marx.

Samuel Bowles(1939-present)

is an American economist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught courses on microeconomics and the theory of institutions.

Bowles has challenged economic theories

that free markets and inequality maximize efficiency, and argued that self-interested financial incentives can produce behavior that is inefficient and violates a society's morality. He has argued that economies with more equality, such as Asian countries, have outperformed economies with more inequality, such as Latin American countries

He state the causes and consequences of

economic inequality, with emphasis on the relationship between wealth inequalities, incomplete contracts, and governance of economic transactions in firms, markets, families and communities.

Hannah Arendt(1906-1975) was a German-Jewish political theorist.

She has often been described as a philosopher, although she always refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact that "men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world."

Arendt's work deals with the nature of

power, and the subjects of politics, authority, and totalitarianism. Much of her work focuses on affirming a conception of freedom which is synonymous with collective political action among equals.

“Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.”

Saul Alinsky

Thank You and God Bless Us All…