toolkit: conflict theory

The theory of how an individual can exert influence and control over others, therefore affecting the social order by attempts to maximise the benefits of being them.  It proposes ongoing conflict between different classes of individual and different levels of society.  It assumes the following is true...

• Competition over scarce resources (money, land, goods, leisure activities, attractive partners) is at the heart of all social interactions within a society.
• Structural inequalities (variation in levels of power and reward) within a social structure and those who have more power or resources desire to maintain things as they are (keeping the status quo).
• Conflict instead of adaptation occurs between competing social classes rather than adaptation; revolution rather than evolution.
• War can unify a society and that conflict is perceived as a source of power by those motivated by self-interest rather than altruistic means.

Conflict theory proposes the following arenas where conflicts take place and these conflicts are often about using power to reshape a society so that it is more to an individual or group's liking.

• Class.  The primary disparity is between ownership of property although those in power will enforce their authority by other means including affiliation, alliances and if necessary by the sword.
  
• Race/Ethnicity.  Where structural inequality (see above) exists between diverse groups then conflict follows, particularly where one group has an educational advantage, greater prestige or power.
  
• Gender.  Even within a culture stratification of status may be applied to a specific gender leading to patriarchal or matriarchal societies such as the mythical Amazons.
  
• Regional.  Drawn from assumptions made by one regional group about another, this is xenophobia; regions may be as small as neighbourhoods or as large as nations.
  
• Religious.  The stratified nature of religion makes it an obvious choice, ranging from crusades against unbelievers to inquisitions of heretics and persecution of minorities who do not conform to orthodoxy.
  

The conflict within these arenas may take various forms.

• War.  The ultimate expression of conflict theory; violent revolutions and genocide are two examples of the extremity of conflict theory.  While Karl Marx argued that any system generates the seeds of it's own destruction it is also true such seeds need ground in which to flourish; failure leads to domination of the subordinate class.  Or annihilation.
  
• Dispute.  Ranging from industrial action to protest marches to dumping tea in the harbour over taxation, dispute is a renegotiation of an existing arrangement between different classes.  Sometimes the renegotiation is successful; other times it can escalate to war or lead to persecution and domination as seen in the backlash against The Pilgrimage of Grace.
  
• Domination.  No, not like that!  More along the lines of post-Culloden Scottish Highlands, where the dominant group penalise behaviours of a subordinate group to discourage them (be it by law or force if need be).  An example is the deracination of Indian nations in the 19th century, previously mentioned here.

Why do we care about this?  The desire for self-advancement is a core theme in games and certain stories.  Conflict is a key driver in any drama and social dynamics are nearly universal in story settings and provide both context and motivation for any character.