Sociology Notes: Conflict Theory

Vocabulary flashcards covering core sociological conflict theory concepts, Marxian analysis, Hegelian dialectics, base and superstructure, labor value, and structural vulnerability.

Georg Hegel

A German philosopher (1770–1831) and intellectual father of idealism who argued that reality is mentally constructed/immaterial and that dialectics operate within the human mind.

Materialism

The philosophical position that matter, physical stuff, and concrete objects precede thought and ideas.

Dialectical Materialism

Marx's method for the empirical study of social reality in terms of material interactions, concrete contradictions, and the world of production and economic activity.

Dialectic Idealism

A philosophical thinking tool used to search for truth in the metaphysical world, premised on the idea that everything is composed of contradictory intellectual forces.

Thesis

In dialectic idealism, an initial intellectual proposition or idea.

Antithesis

In dialectic idealism, the negation of or opposite reaction to a thesis.

Synthesis

In dialectic idealism, the new idea that resolves the contradiction between the thesis and the antithesis.

Bourgeoisie

The dominant social class under capitalism that owns the means of production (such as factories and mines) and derives economic power through that ownership.

Proletariat

The working class under capitalism that does not own the means of production and must sell its labor power in order to survive.

Modes of Production

The overall ways in which economic production is organized in a society, such as capitalism where the means of production are privately held by a small class.

Means of Production

The physical, non-human inputs used to produce economic value, including infrastructure, natural resources, technologies, land, tools, and factories.

Actors of Production

The fundamental elements involved in economic production, consisting of labor combined with the means of production (labor, land, and capital).

Alienation of Labor

The systematic degradation of human potential under capitalism wherein workers lose the ability to direct their own actions and determine their life and destiny.

Alienation from the Product

The first form of alienation identified by Marx, where workers do not own what they produce, leaving all property rights and production decisions solely in capitalist hands.

Alienation from the Labor Process

The second form of alienation, where work is reduced to repetitive, simplistic tasks under external authority that deny creative need and human potential.

Alienation from Species-Essence (Self-Development)

The third form of alienation, where labor becomes a coerced means of mere physical existence rather than an opportunity for creative self-development and reflection.

Alienation from Other Workers

The fourth form of alienation, where human beings are isolated from one another and reduced to replaceable cogs in a machine, stripped of collective coordination and decision-making.

Labor Theory of Value

Marx's economic theory demonstrating that commodities derive their economic value from human labor, meaning all new value and profit originate directly from labor rather than machines or raw materials.

Use-Value

The capacity of a commodity to satisfy a specific human need, which is realized only when the commodity is consumed.

Exchange-Value

The quantitative proportion in which one commodity can be traded for another, realized during market exchange.

Labor-Power

A person's capacity to perform work, which capitalism transforms into a commodity whose value is determined by the cost of food, shelter, and survival needed to maintain the worker.

Surplus Value

The portion of economic value generated by workers that is not returned to them in the form of wages, but is instead appropriated by the capitalist as profit.

Exploitation (Marxian)

The technical economic process whereby workers create all new value in production, but capitalists extract and retain a portion of that value as surplus.

Rate of Exploitation

The technical ratio of the total amount of unpaid surplus labor done to the total amount of wages paid (the value of labor power).

Instrumentalist View of the State

The Marxian theory that the state functions as an instrument of the ruling class, enabling owners of the means of production to advance their economic interests through political institutions.

Power

The ability or influence to control the behavior of others, even against their will.

Base (Infrastructure)

The economic foundation of society, encompassing the means of production (tools, machines, factories, land, raw materials) and the relations of production.

Superstructure

All social and cultural institutions built upon and maintained by the economic base, including art, family, culture, religion, philosophy, law, media, politics, science, and education.

Ideology

A system of ideas belonging to the ruling class that permeates society to rationalize and maintain the status quo.

Hegemony

A form of political leadership and domination based on the consent of the led, established by diffusing the ruling class's worldview through civil society institutions like schools, churches, and media.

False Consciousness

The condition where workers fail to recognize the structural inequality embedded in capitalist ideology, instead attributing socioeconomic disparities to individual effort or failure.

Class Consciousness

The awareness among workers that they share common economic interests as a collective group in opposition to the capitalist system, enabling them to organize collective action.

Structural Vulnerability

A condition of precarity systematically imposed on individuals by their location in the social order, which cumulates to restrict access to legal protections, medical care, and unpaid wages.

Pyramid of Violence

A model showing visible direct violence at the apex supported underneath by invisible structural violence and cultural violence.

Layered Precarities

The overlapping vulnerabilities produced when immigration status and workers' compensation laws interact to disenfranchise injured immigrant workers and shield employers from liability.

The Jungle

A 1906 book by Upton Sinclair depicting the exploitation and dangerous conditions faced by immigrant meatpacking workers in Chicago, which helped inspire the first federal food safety laws.