Sociology 9
Conflict
Please choose one of the following prompts and respond to it in no less than 300-400 words. In your response, you must fully answer all aspects of the question and support your answer with reference to course materials (textbook, supplementary readings, videos, etc).
- Discuss a real-life example in which a social conflict followed Coser’s theory. According to Coser’s (and Simmel’s) insights, what function(s) did this conflict fulfill? In other words, why was it good for society – or at least some people within society?
- “Conflict theory” derives from the critical work of Karl Marx on economic inequality under capitalism; Coser’s analysis comes from structural-functionalism. How might social conflict be understood using symbolic interactionism? Come up with and discuss an application of this theory to the question of conflict.
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