Class conflict 105865 224792324 2008-07-10T12:58:28Z Ohnoitsjamie 507787 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/Ckhartman|Ckhartman]] ([[User talk:Ckhartman|talk]]) to last version by Apollonius 1236 {{expert-portal|Society}} '''[[Class conflict]]''', also '''class war''' or '''class warfare''', is both the friction that accompanies social relationships between members or groups of different [[social class]]es and the underlying tensions or antagonisms which exist in [[society]] due to conflicting interests that arise from different social positions. Class conflict is thought to play a pivotal role in [[history]] of class societies (such as [[capitalism]] and [[feudalism]]) by [[Marxism|Marxists]]<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Communist Manifesto]] |last=Marx |first=Karl |coauthors=and others |authorlink=Karl Marx |year=1848 |publisher=www.marxists.org |location=[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm] }}</ref> who refer to its overt manifestations as [[class war]], a struggle that is viewed by them as a product of [[capitalism]]. Class conflict can take many different shapes, for example direct violence such as wars fought for resources and cheap labor, indirect violence such as deaths from poverty, starvation or unsafe working conditions; coercion, such as the threat of losing a job or pulling a much needed investment, or ideology, e.g. trying to convince people that the power should be in the hands of the working class or the capitalist class, or instilling passivity and [[consumerism]] with [[advertising]] It can be open, as with a business [[strike action|lockout]] aimed at destroying a [[trade union|labour union]], or it can be hidden, as with an informal slowdown in production that protests low wages for an excessively fast or dangerous work process. ==Definition of Classes and Class Conflict== Class conflict is a term long-used mostly by socialists, Marxists, and anarchists, to describe social conflicts between two or more social classes. Marxists and many anarchists define a 'class' by its relationship to the 'means of production' --- such as factories, land, and machinery. From this point of view, the social control of production and labour is a contest between classes, and the division of these resources necessarily involves conflict and inflicts harm. ==Class conflict in pre-capitalist socities== Where societies are socially divided based on status, wealth, or control of social production and distribution, conflict arises. This conflict is both everyday, such as the common Medieval right of lords to control access to grain mills and baking ovens, or it can be exceptional such as the Roman [[Conflict of the Orders]], the uprising of [[Spartacus]], or [[Popular revolt in late medieval Europe|the various popular uprisings in late medieval Europe.]] One of the earliest Marxist analyses of these conflicts is [[Frederick Engel]]'s [[German Peasants War]]<ref>Frederick Engels, German Peasants War, marxists.org</ref>. One of the earliest analyses of the development of class as the development of conflicts between emergent classes is available in [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s [[Mutual Aid]] where he analyses the disposal of goods after death in pre-class societies, and how inheritance produces early class divisions and conflict<ref>Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid</ref>. ==Class conflict in Capitalism== The typical example of class conflict described is class conflict within capitalism. This class conflict is seen to occur primarily between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], and take the form of conflict over hours of work, value of wages, cost of consumer goods, the culture at work, control over [[parliament]] or [[bureaucracy]], and economic inequality. The particular implementation of government programs which may seem purely humanitarian, such as disaster relief, can actually be a form of class conflict.<ref>Greg Palast, Burn baby burn http://www.gregpalast.com/burn-baby-burnthe-california-celebrity-fires/</ref> Apart from these day to day forms of class conflict, during periods of crisis or revolution class conflict takes on a violent nature and involves repression, assault, restriction of civil liberties and murderous violence such as assassinations or death squads. ==Class conflict in the Soviet Union and similar societies== A variety of predominantly Marxist and anarchist thinkers argue that class conflict exists in [[Soviet Union|Soviet-style societies]]. These arguments describe as a class the [[bureaucratic]] [[stratum]] formed by the ruling [[political party]] (known as the Nomenklatura in the Soviet Union)-- sometimes termed a "[[new class]]".<ref>{{cite book | first = Milovan | last = Đilas | authorlink = Milovan Đilas | year = 1983, 1957 | title = The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System | edition = paperback | publisher = Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | location = San Diego | id = ISBN 0-15-665489-X}}</ref> -- that controls the means of production. This ruling class is viewed to be in opposition to the remainder of society, generally considered the [[proletariat]]. This type of system is referred to by its detractors as [[state capitalism]], [[state socialism]], [[bureaucratic collectivism]], [[coordinatorism]], or [[new class]] societies. ==See also== *[[Class struggle]] *[[Class war]] *[[Class consciousness]] *[[Social class]] *[[Slave rebellion]] *[[Revolution]] *[[Economic inequality]] *[[Economic stratification]] *[[Exploitation]] *[[trade union|labor union]] *[[No War But The Class War]] *[[Anti-hunting]] *[[Classism]] *[[Popular revolt in late medieval Europe]] *[[sharecropping]] *[[taxation]] *[[Conflict of the Orders]] *[[Johnson County War]] *[[Degenerated workers state]] *[[Deformed workers state]] == Further reading == *<cite> Class & Class Conflict in Industrial Society</cite>,Ralf Dahrendorf, Stanford University Press, 1959, trade paperback, 336 pages, ISBN 0-8047-0561-5 (also available in hardback as ISBN 0-8047-0560-7 and ISBN 1-131-15573-4). *Li Yi. 2005. The Structure and Evolution of Chinese Social Stratification. University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-3331-5 == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Socialism]] [[Category:Sociology]] [[de:Klassenkampf]] [[fr:Lutte des classes]] [[ja:階級闘争]] [[sv:Klasskamp]]