Credits, references, and bibliography

Biography

Ralf Dahrendorf’s Conflict Theory

"While structural functionalists tend to emphasize the orderliness and stability of society, conflict theorists like Ralf Dahrendorf characterize society as being in a state of flux and dissension.  According to conflict theorists, coercion holds society together, not norms and value.  Dahrendorf focused on the role of authority in society, which he viewed as involving the superordination and subordination of groups occupying particular positions within what he called imperatively coordinated associations.  Groups within a given association are defined according to their specific interests.  These interest groups have the potential to turn into conflict groups, and their actions can lead to changes in social structures."(1)

Value Integration or Dominant Ideology?

Critical issue: Authority (and its distribution in society)

• Power embedded within the structure of society--status and roles versus person
• Superordination/subordination based on social expectations
• Authority as legitimate
  
• Imperatively Coordinated Associations
  • People controlled by hierarchy of positions.
  • Multiple--people occupy various positions
• Interests (based on social position not personality)
  • Latent Interests (unconscious, based on position relative to authority in organization--role expectations internalized by actor)
  • Manifest Interests (latent interests made conscious.)

Groups, Conflict, and Change (local copy, from Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society,Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1959, pp.241-248)

• Quasi Group (a number of people with same positions/role interests)
• Interest Group ("true group" with similar positions and interests, structure, goals)
• Conflict Group (Interest groups engaged in conflict)
• Lumpenproletariat (mass--not effective)
• When recruitment to quasi groups is structurally determined,...fertile ground for interest groups and, in some cases, conflict groups." (page 90)

Critique:

• Basic--ignores order and stability
• Somewhat derivative--under-developed
• Not clearly Marxian
• More in common with S-F than Marx (systems/positions and roles)
• Conflict emerges "mysteriously from legitimate systems
• Tautalogical, macro, and vague.
• Limited explanatory power (only a part of society); no micro.

Functions of Conflict

• Solidify loosely structured group, produce alliances with other groups, motivate isolated individuals, clarifies boundaries, and promotes communication.
• Maintaining the status quo
• Also, produces change
• Intense conflict can produce radical change
• Violence--sudden, structural change
• Dynamic relationship: Conflict--status quo and change.

Randall Collins and a Micro-level Integrative Conflict Approach (coming soon).

Also: Peter Weingart. 1969. "Beyond Parsons? A Critique of Ralf Dahrendorf's Conflict Theory." Vol. 48, No. 2 (Dec.), pp. 151-165.

INTERNET EXERCISE(1)

Go to http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/Elberg/Dahrendorf/dahrendorf0.html and read this interview with Ralf Dahrendorf.  Then, answer the following questions:

a.       [Click on the “Background” Box.] What world historical events shaped Dahrendorf’s formative years?

b.      [Click on the “Ideas” Box.]  How did Dahrendorf’s formative experiences influence his sociological research and writings?

c.       [Click on the “Lessons Learned” Box.]  What message does Dahrendorf provide for young adults in regard to the future of society?

Chapter 4 Review Quiz

ANNOTATED WEBLINKS

Dahrendorf: Straddling Theory and Practice http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Elberg/Dahrendorf/dahrendorf1.html (conversation with Dahrendorf)

Against the Current http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/77 (a monthly commentary from Darhendorf)

Credits, references, and bibliography

1. Much of this page comes from the "Instructor's Manual" to accompany Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics, Second Edition, George Ritzer, Mcgraw-Hill, 2007. The Instructor's Manual was prepared by James Murphy, University of Maryland, College Park and Todd Stillman, Fayetteville State University. These excerpts are from chapter 4.
2. Ritzer, George. 2007/2010/2013. Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. 2nd/3rd/4th editions. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill

Unless otherwise noted, all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/ ©2015 by Robert O. Keel.
Click here to Report Copyright Problems