Class Conflict

Class conflict refers to the tension, competition, and struggle between social classes arising from their opposing economic interests and unequal access to resources, power, and rewards. It is most closely associated with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who declared in The Communist Manifesto that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, and who argued that capitalism generates an antagonism between the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production, and the proletariat, who must sell their labor. Max Weber accepted that class situations shape conflict but emphasized that status groups and political parties also generate division, and Ralf Dahrendorf argued that modern conflict centers on authority relations in organizations rather than simply property ownership. Lewis Coser highlighted that conflict can have integrative as well as disruptive functions. Erik Olin Wright analyzed how exploitation structures class relations in contemporary societies, and E. P. Thompson showed how class is made through shared experience and struggle. Forms of conflict include strikes, union bargaining, protest, and political mobilization. Critics argue that class conflict has been displaced by consumerism, identity politics, and welfare compromise. Class conflict remains central to research on labor, inequality, politics, and social change.