Conflict Theory

CONFLICT THEORY and Marxism attempt to explain the exploitative dynamics of the Industrial Revolution that led to the mass production goods and the loss of the workers' control over their own creativity. Conflict theory primarily argues that it is the economic system of capitalism itself that produces crime.

Specifically, the Industrial Revolution primarily benefited the bourgeoisie, the owners of the means of production, while exploiting the land and the common worker, or the proletariat. Workers and the environment became tools or resources used to expand the wealth of the elite classes. Conflict theory hypothesizes that society is structured based upon the relationship of people to the production of material goods. In other words, those who own the means of production also control the workers, politicians, and ...