Importance of Social Conflict Theory

Importance of Social Conflict Theory Why is theory important in the area of sociology? A theory is a proposed relationship between two or more concepts. In sociology, sociological theories are statements of how and why particular facts about the social world are related (Marcioni Geber, 2010, p14). They range in scope from concise descriptions of a single social process to examples or models for analysis and interpretation. Some sociological theories explain aspects of the social world and enable prediction about future events (Robert, 2012), while others function as broad perspective which guides further sociological analyses (Kallom, 2002). The importance of theory in the area of sociology cannot be overemphasized. Theories such as the social conflict theory, structural functionalism theory, positivism theory, field theory, rational choice theory, and so on, were developed to explain social phenomena. In sociology, a theory may specify deterministic properties of a set of entities, thus permitting point predictions about future states of the relevant system, or it may specify probabilistic relations among entities, giving rise to statements about the distribution of possible future states of the system. A theory is provided with a set of â€Å"bridge† statement that permit the theorist to connect the consequences of the theory with predictions about, observable state of affairs. Sociology is an examination of human beings in social contexts. Observing how people in specific communities interact, taking surveys and conducting experiments yield new data to build sociological knowledge. Sociological theories are frameworks explaining how specific aspects of society are linked to larger processes. An element characterizing society is interdependence. Individuals or organizations cannot survive independently while even seemingly dissimilar concept such as religion and the rise of an economic system can be closely connected. In other words, theories help determine interdependent aspects. Civic competence involved been able to make informed and rational decisions on every issue, from participating in elections to settling disputes with their neighbours. Theories in the area of sociology will help people understand how society works and how they can be a useful part in it. Furthermore, it almost impossible to make decisions affecting a certain community without deep knowledge of its structure, as miscalculated decisions can have a severe impact on people’s lives. Tackling societal problems such as alcoholism, high criminal rate, requires decision makers to know what exactly the problem is and its causes. Sociological theories provide an insight on such issues, making it easier and safer for elected representatives to find solutions to social problems. Sociologist focus on how a society is structured, how each and every individual works as part of the whole, how society has changed over the years and predictions of future changes. In essence, sociological theories help people understand society and knowledge of the world as it grows. Conclusively therefore sociological theory was defined by Rizzer (2013) as a set of interrelated ideas that allow for the systematization of knowledge of the social world. This knowledge is then used to explain the social world and make predictions about the future of the world (p5). Discuss any sociology theory of your choice The Social Conflict Theory is one of the theories in sociology. The conflict theory was originated by Karl Marx in the mid – 1800’s. The theory states that human behaviour results in conflicts between competiting groups. The belief is that in all stratified societies, there are two major social groups, a ruling class and a subject class (Anderson Taylor, 2009). The ruling class enjoys been the owner and having control over forces of production hereby exploiting the subject class. This has resulted in a basic conflict of interest between the two classes. Social conflict is the struggle between segments of society over valued resources (Aghababa, 2011). Social conflict turned a small population into capitalists in the nineteenth century. Capitalists are people who own and operate factories and other businesses in pursuit of profits. However, capitalism turned most people into industrial workers whom Marx called proletarians. Proletarians actually sold their labour for wages. Conflict theories draw attention to power differentials such as class, gender and race conflict, and contrast historically dominant ideologies. It is therefore a macro level analysis of society that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change (Macious Gerber, 2011, p15). Social conflict theory is a compact of the four major paradigms of sociology. Other important sociologists Harriet Martinean, Hane Addams and Dubois (Macious Geber, 2011) argue that this sociological approach does not look at how social structures help society to operate, but instead looks at how â€Å"social patterns† can cause some people in the society to be dominant and others to be oppressed. The social conflict theory opines that individuals and groups (social classes) within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources (such as the wealthy vs the poor) and that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power. Two methods by which this exploitation is done are through brute force usually done by police, the army and economics. Earlier social conflict theories argue that money is the mechanism which creates social disorder. It can also be deduced from their beliefs that the society is created from ongoing social conflict between various groups. The social conflict theory believes social relationships are about power and exploitation; the rich exploiting the poor. Citing an example of this oppression is a renter for instance, living in a rented apartment for fifty years and having no right or economic interest within the property. In sociology, conflict theory opines that the society functions so that everyone or group involved can make the best use of benefits which in the long run brings about social changes. Most times, the theory is applied to explain conflict between social classes in ideas such as socialism and communism. Competition plays a vital role in understanding conflict theory. Accordingly, there are three primary assumptions of modern conflict theory. The first is competition over scarce resources such as money and leisure which is characteristic of human relationship. Second is structural inequality which has to do with inequalities in power and reward. Thirdly, it is believed that revolution is eminent because change occurs as a result of conflict between competing interests, rather than through adaptation. According to McCafferty (2006), conflict theory emphasizes the social political or material inequality of a social group. It also contrast dominant ideologies and make open differences in p ower. Conflict theory is mostly associated with Marxism, but as a reaction to functionalism and positivist method, may also be associated with number of other perspectives including critical theory, feminist theory, post-modern theory, post structural theory etc (Rodney, 2007). Conflict theory posits that social groups or classes compete with each other in order to obtain resources that the society deems important. A realistic social conflict theory is an understanding of the positive role of social conflict in serving the common good. It is actually expected to put change in perspective since all substantial social change involves social conflict. Social conflict theory plays a position role, when properly understood, in promoting groups to find common ground, form alliances, define core values, identify differences in view point, set group boundaries, and inform strategies for achieving expected change. Understanding these functions of social conflict in the context of a social conflict theory is an essential process in positive social change. To understand social conflict theory, it must be known that in a democratic society, no one group should dominate all other groups. The power any group is supposed to have and especially of large institutions, is limited by force of law and by social impact, custom and social tradition within that frame of reference. Various interest groups and institutions compete, negotiate and work out changes in socio-economic arrangements generating social conflict in the process. Wright Mills who has been called the founder of modern conflict theory opined that social structures are created through conflict between people with differing interest and resources. Individuals and resources in turn, are influential by these structures and by the unequal distribution of power and resources in the society (Knapp, 1994, pp228-246). REFERENCES Aghababa, Hossein (October, 2011). There will be Blood http://www.independent.fil Reviews. Com/there will be Blood Anderson, M L. And Taylor, H.F., Sociology: The Essentials, (Rhomson Wadswoth, Belmot Ca, 2009). Berger, Joseph,2000 â€Å"Theory and Formalization, Some Reflections on Experience. Sociological Theory 18 93): 482 – 489. Craig J. Calhoun (2002). Classical Sociological Theory. Wiley – Blackwell pp.1 Gerber, John J. Macious, Linda M. Gerber 2011 â€Å"Sociology† (7th Canadian Ed) 2011., Toronto: Pearson Canada p. 15 John J. Macious, Linda M. Gerber, â€Å"Sociology† Seventh Canadian Edition, Pearson Canada. Keel, Robert.†What is Sociological Theory?† Robert Keel. Retrieved 29 February 2012. Knapp, P-. (1994) One World – Many Worlds; Contemporary Sociological Theory (2nd Ed.) It Apprercollins Colleges Div, Pp 228 – 246 Liz, Sharon, Granehoolz, Boiuma – Holtrop (2003) â€Å"Explaining Critical Sociological Thinking. Teaching Sociology 31 (4): 485 – 496. Macious Gerber, John J. and Linda M. (2010). Sociology 7th Canadian edition. Uppersaddle River, New Jessey, USA: Pearson Education Inc P.14 Marx, karl 1971, Preface to Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, TR S.W. Ryanzanskaya, Edited by M. Dobbi. London; Lawrence Whishart. McCafferty Kevin C (2006) Conflict Theory How Contributor, http://www.Ehow.Com/Facts-5518763 conflict-theory. Obserschal Anthony, Theories of Social Conflict, from Annual Review of Sociology, Vol 4, pp291 – 315, (1978). Rizzer, G., Contemporary Sociological Theory and its Classical Roots from The Basics, 4th ed., (McGraw Hill, St Louis, 2013). Rodney, Stark (2007).Sociology (10th Ed.) Thomas Wadsworth. Sears, A., A Good Book, In Theory A Guide To Theoretical Thing North York Higher Education (University Of Toronto Press, P.G, 2008) pp 4 -6. Skocpol, Theda., States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China, (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1980). Thio, Alek (2008). Sociology: A Brief Introduction (7th Ed) Pearson. Understanding Social Conflict Theory [online], Available from: http://www.orgownneysinto-the Justice.Com/Social Conflict Theory_ht,. http://neo humanism./org/c/co/conflict_theory.html. [Accessed 23 March 2014]. 1

Should we prohibit the development of the cyber command

Should we prohibit the development of the cyber command? BY kus09453 Cyber warfare Cyber warfare has been defined as any hostile measures against an enemy designed† to discover, alter, destory, disrupt or transfer data stored in a computer, manipulated by a computer or transmitted through a computer. † Examples of hostile use include computer attacks on air traffic control systems, on oil pipeline flow systems and nuclear plants. Cyber Weapon Cyber weapons includes computer viruses and software that can be used to penetrate enemy networks.Defining these tools as weapons, as opposed to systems or processes, allows the military to apply the same authorisation controls as they apply to conventional weapons such as guns and tanks. Cyber command Cyber command has been defined as a command for network which subordinate to the state. They have three tasks, attack, defence and development. Lets use the first establishment of cyber command, the US Cyber Command, to be an example t o explain. US Cyber Command centralizes command of cyberspace operation and organizes existing cyber resources, these can help for the network developmant.In the defence side, US Cyber Command synchronizes defense of US military and the US government services networks, to comfirm that US will be safe under any situations. In the attack side, it also include that the background why Cyber Command had aroused the international concern. In 2010, It has waged cyberwar. US Cyber Command postponed the development of nuclear weapon of Iran. It involves hacking and attack. This aggressive action had aroused international concern. Why We chose this topic because of Edward Joseph Snowden. He was an NSA system administrator.He was wanted by USA because he published th of the U. S. classified intelligence to public. He came to Hong Kong to publish these secret file. This action had aroused international concern, including us. He had published the PRISM project which U. S. is preparing to do. U. S. can through PRISM to get all the data about us, like e-mail, file, video, login information. Also, he said that U. S. has developed over 2000 cyber weapon to destroy computer system. We are interested in this because we think our privacy are not save and our national security is threatened .This resentation will focus on whether we should prohibit the development of Cyber Command as a part of Cyberwarfare. Later on, Jacky will discuss about cyber command in different perspective. Conclusion We disagree with prohibiting the development of Cyber Command but should be focus on the defensive purpose and the technology development. Since the offensive provocation could lead to real war, the offensive development should be prohibited. We think that enhancing the national cyber technology is very important. Cyber weapon meets an objective which would require spy or the use of force.Such actions include theft of data and destroy of data. Theft of data or intellectual property, such as pr oprietary information of a business, classified information of a government or military. Destruction of data or programs on the system, less frequently, damage to the computer hardware, in the most extreme case, damage to an electromechanical or process control system such that a serious industrial accident results in loss of life or major economic damages. To protect the citizens' right and their life, to prevent the terrorist attack national computer systems, the development of Cyber Command s necessary.Predicted Future In the future, we predict that first, every countries will develop cyber command overtly or covertly, because we are in cyber era, it is necessary to have a cyber command to deal with the network security problem. second, cyberwar may lead to real war as Ken mentioned. third, National security agencies and law enforcement agencies will promote cooperation, because they need to deal with the privacy problem. In the following time, I am going to analysis the problem in social interest perspective and national security perspective.But before that, I will talk about the development of cyber command first. In the past, Cyber Command in different countries were mainly focus on the defensive purpose. They Just want to improve the firewall, to improve their network security and thus to thwart cyber attack. But in recent years, they have been starting to change the focus to offensive purpose. They are actively to develop different cyber weapons and hacking others computer system to collect information. The U. S. Cyber Command has a monitoring program to collect data and to know someone's whereabouts.Their targets are not only the important member of other countries, but also the citizens. The media in U. S. disclosed that they has been monitoring 9 Internet service providers user database, which including G-mail in google, yahoo email, skype, facebook etc. What you have done in the computer is possible to be monitored. Our personal privacy is infringe d and it is the right of everyone. Therefore , in the social interest perspective, the development of Cyber Command should be stop. But, in the National security perspective, the US government explained that the onitoring program is used for against Terrorism.They hack in some database system and get the information about the terrorists in order to track them and thus to avoid terrorist attack. Besides that, developing Cyber Command can improve the protection of the national computer system. One ot the task ot the Cyber Command is to protect the whole country's network by filtering some harmful website, e-mails. In other words, they protect the citizen computers from attacking by others. The citizen will be more save to do online shopping or something else. And also prevent the leak of national secret ocuments.As US government reported that they had been received several times of attack by China, some of the secret documents may be copied, which threaten the national security of US. An air force general asked why we should wait for the attack from others and take response to it? He then suggested an idea, â€Å"Offense is the best defense† and there is a term of this defense, we called active cyber defense. They has developed many cyber weapons and has been actively hacking other countries computer systems with the â€Å"Defensive purpose†. It is undoubtedly that it is effective for national security.The development of Cyber Command also help to enhance the technology level. The better hacking skills, stronger firewall is for better protection to the nation. But it is not Just benefit to the security aspect. The task of development of Cyber Command not Just the attack skill and cyber weapon, but also the improvement of both the speed, the memory size of computer, and the transmission speed of internet. It is benefit to the evolution of human technology level. I have mentioned many advantages if developing the Cyber Command, but there are some pos sible disadvantages to national security.First, the Cyber Command may threaten to the national security itself. Since whole national computer system is controlled by them, they can hack in the military system and then dominate the whole country. Second, we cannot completely control the action of hackers in the Cyber Command. If they attack the banking system so as to obtain benefit, we may not know who did it as they have the best hacking skills. Also, they may sell the secret national documents to other countries implicitly to obtain benefit. Then, Ken will discuss the problem in another perspectives. In political perspective, it is concerned the relations between countries.Firstly, prohibit the development of Cyber Command can maintain world peace. If we do not prohibit this development, it will destroy partnership between countries. Cyber weapons mean monitoring computer system, stealing private information or destroying program system. When a government uses cyber weapons, it th reatens other countries because they doubt their secret national documents have been divulged and blame the country which using cyber weapons. Also, hacking is a serious problem and may damage international relation. Due to hacking, the country which its system was hacked must stop the cooperation with the hacking country.If countries use cyber weapons more frequently, their distrust between countries must be increased. This provocation is possible to wage real war, the world peace is destroyed. However, the development of Cyber Command will be of benefit to a country. If a country can hold a strong cyber-military, it can strengthen international status. Besides, a country develops Cyber Command to steal other national secret information, they can clearly know other countries' situations then it can enhance ore influence on the determinations in international affairs.Developing Cyber Command also protect interests and dignity of nation. When a country can prevent cyber-attack from o ther countries, they protect their interests and dignity. The next is economic perspective. In this point of view, developing Cyber Command need to increase government expenditure because they must use super computer in Cyber Command. Oppositely, it can increase employment rate in I. T. industry because it need a lot of experts in computer to wage cyber-attack or defend hacking. Also, it can protect financial service.Many financial activities like stock market are controlled by computer system, if there is cyber-attack to these financial activities, it will make a huge economic loss. Therefore, we need to develop Cyber Command for defending cyber-attack, it can avoid economic loss. Four perspectives on development of cyber command have been discussed. Now, I will talk the complexity on this topic. We find two dilemmas in developing Cyber Command, world peace versus national benefit and privacy versus security. I talk about world peace versus national benefit first.If we hope for wor ld peace, we should not wage any types of war including cyber war. Even though cyber warfare will not make actual harm such as casualties, it will cause bad relation between different countries. Consequently, the real war occurs because relations between countries have been destroyed. But countries can get benefits in cyber war. On the other hand, some governments think monitoring is a good way to maintain national security. However, citizens do not agree that they are monitored by the government because they do not want to lose their freedoms and privacies.

How unemployment is individual and social problem Essay

In this essay I will discuss how unemployment is an individual and a social problem and how Max Weber distinguished power, authority and coercion and how the functionalist, conflict theorist and symbolic interaction theory view the economy and by the mid century how they have evolved and the role of these theories to explain social and economic phenomenon. How unemployment is individual and social problem Unemployment is caused by many factors in a modern market economy. It can be caused by rapid technological change, business cycle or recessions, seasonal factors in some industries particularly such as changes in tastes and climatic conditions which affects demand for certain products and services, individual perceptions and willingness to work and search for jobs, their values and attitudes towards some jobs and about employers, accessibility for retraining and acquisition of work skills, willingness and perception of unemployed of the benefits of training and the possibility for them to get a job after the training even though they have a chance to get a job, discrimination in the workplace based on race, color. religion, ethnicity, age and class. It can be seen from the above causes unemployment in a particular period can be a combination of caused by social factors and how the economy as a whole works and also due to the subjective individual factors. In a sociological point of view according to functionalist and conflict theorists the unemployment is caused primarily by the social factors than by the individual factors. However according to Max Weber and symbolic interaction theories individuals construct their own social constructs and perception and they can be subjective in their behavior and there fore can become unemployed even though the actual condition they can get a job in the job market. In summary applying the sociological and the primary causes of unemployment unemployment is individual as well as a social problem in a market economy. As discussed above it is caused by the society as well as by individuals. Even the economy or societal factors are not present unemployment can be caused by individual perception and their own subjective behavior. . Max Weber’s distinction among power, authority and coercion Power can be defined as one person’s ability to influence others does what ever they want even though they don’t like to do what is demanded and they resist doing what is demanded. For example a professor can influence the students to assign work and demand them to do to satisfy some criteria. As well a dictator like Hitler can control all aspects of life because of this ability to impose his will on majority of people. In other words a person or group on other person or other groups can use power legitimately or illegitimately. That is power need not come from proper authority or legitimate authority. That is power and authority can be different in this respect. According to Max Weber authority can arise from tradition, charisma of certain powerful people or from legal-rational. That is authority need not come from any logical reason but likely to come from respect for the past. For example a monarchy in Western Europe can get authority because they ruled the populace over a long period of time. Even the traditional authority can exist in modern democracies because the people respect the monarchy or authority of monarchy at least in a limited symbolic head of states in Western Europe. Authority also can arise from charisma of some powerful people. They have authority because of their charisma. This arises because they have the ability to lead a vast number of people for a particular cause using their powerful charm and influence over ordinary people. For example Martin Luther King, Gandhi. Nelson Mandela is the modern examples of charismatic authority they had because of their ability to charm and influence a vast majority of people for a particular cause. Authority also can arise from legal-rational. That is in society authority is given to individuals and organization based on rationally enacted laws and regulations. This authority is impersonal and differs from charismatic authority because the legal-rational authority is impersonal and the charismatic authority is personal and admired by the people who accept that authority. In modern societies the authority is derived from the legal-rational compared to charismatic and traditional in varying degrees in industrialized societies in particular. Coercion is the extreme manifestation of power in a way threatens the person to complete obedience because it threatens the person coerced physically, financially and socially. This results in persons following the authority of another because of fear rather than will. Coercion is mostly linked with abuse and conflict. Coercion exists in many dictatorships in the past as well as in the present world in many parts of the world where citizens are forced to follow the regime of dictatorship. The view of the economy in the perspectives of functionalist, conflict theorists and symbolic interaction theory Functionalist perspective of the economy In the perspective of functionalist sociological theorist social systems including economy works like a biological organism where every part of the system work in a united manner so that smooth functioning is maintained and so that society builds consensus between different parts of the system.. In this change is evolutionary and the changes take place to minimize dysfunction and to enhance the stability and its survival in the future. In this respect Capitalism will not collapse and will endure in the future as the functions of the system will adjust and evolve so that it maintains the social order and stability without any radical overhaul of the economic system. In addition the social, legal, political, religious systems will not be in conflict with the economic system and work in unison with the economic system so the whole social organism survive and social order is maintained and their functions and their purpose even though different work as a unified system. As discussed above this is the functionalist view of the economy. Conflict theorist view of the economy In contrast conflict theorist believe society do not work as a unified system. Conflict and struggle take place as different groups work to maximize their benefit in the same time other groups loose. Functionalist view conflict in a negative manner. However the conflict theorist see the conflict to some extent is beneficial as it forces the parties to come to a common ground and make the economic system or the social system to change for the better and minimize the losers and maximizing the benefits for a greater number of groups as well make the power system in check so that abuse of power is minimized. In this context the economic system and social order changes continually and changes take place and shaped by different interest groups in varying degrees in a market economy. However Marxism as a conflict theory predicts radical change to the economic system to move towards a socialist system it has not eventuated. However Max Weber as a conflict theory predicts the viability of the market economy with some reform to minimize the negative aspects of capitalism like alienation and the negative impact of bureaucracy in capitalist economies and more democracy in society and continuous reform of the economic system to make it work efficiently but also effectively by legal, social and political reform appropriate to a countries historical, cultural, political and social context.

The Hayward Fault of California