Conflict Theory

Conflict theorizing originated in Europe in the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel. In its more modern guise, conflict theory is an American invention, despite the fact that its reemergence in the mid-twentieth century was inspired by European and European-origin critics of structural functionalism. Early criticisms of functionalism came from David Lockwood and Ralf Dahrendorf, who argued that functional theory, especially the version practiced by Talcott Parsons, presented an overly integrated view of social organization that could not account for conflict and change. This critique was buttressed by immigrant critical theorists and, curiously, by Lewis Coser, another European immigrant, who argued that both conflict and functional theories were too extreme, requiring an assessment of the functions of conflict. These criticisms became ritualistic attacks on functionalism as American academia emerged from the repression of Marxist (communist-sounding) thought during the McCarthy era in the 1950s and as the student unrest of the 1960s accelerated during the course of the Vietnam War. Functionalism was seen as ideologically conservative and as providing justification for the status quo. All of these criticisms were overdrawn, and most did not lead to new theorizing but, instead, caused the collapse of functional theorizing, especially the action theory of Talcott Parsons.

Yet the critique of functionalism did legitimate a revival of the European conflict tradition in the United States; and by the mid-1970s, Marx's and Weber's approaches were being recast into modern conflict theory, with occasional use of Simmel's ideas. Three lines of conflict theorizing emerged in America, two devoted to reviving Marx and Weber (again, with Simmelian elements) and a third combining elements of both Marx and Weber. These can be labeled, for convenience, neo-Marxist, neo-Weberian, and historical-comparative conflict theory. Alongside these general theories were more specific theories associated with social movements and identity politics (e.g., ethnicity and gender). Critical theorizing, however, did not enjoy the same revival in America, remaining predominately a European enterprise or being incorporated into the revival of Marxian conflict theory.