Occupy Wall Street: Conflict Theory Right Before Our Eyes

Occupy Wall Street is a recent populist movement that was started as a response to the extreme privilege that the top one percent of this country enjoy. Their list of demands is broad, but some specific things they are demanding are a livable minimum wage and a complete overhaul of the tax system so those with extreme wealth have to pay much more. The protestors have been camping out on Wall Street and have organized various events and marches. The movement is rapidly gaining strength, with offshoots popping up all over the country. So what factors have led to this sudden movement?

The first reason is both an individual and public problem. This is the simple inability of many people to care for themselves and their families due to economic problems. Many people are upset when they see programs that aid the poor being slashed and taxes for the wealthy being decreased. This is clearly mainly a conflict theory issue. Many people are wondering how they are going to send their children to college, or even how they are going to feed them that day. When people feel that they have absolutely no power and no way to change their situation, they become desperate and try to find a way to wrest the power away by force. This is extremely evident in this situation. Many of the protestors feel that electing different officials will do nothing to solve the problem, as the top one percent has the means to control anyone elected anyway.

Many of the people in this movement are college age or younger. They are angry that the debt incurred by past and present administrations will not be paid for by the people who passed the laws or the people who voted them into office, but by the young who had nothing to do with these decisions. They had no choice in the matter, and this will drastically affect many of their lives. The students and other young people have no other way to express themselves, since many cannot yet vote and are not taken seriously by those in power.

All the issues revolving around the Occupy Wall Street protests are conflict theory ideas. This protest is, at its core, a group of people demanding equal access to resources as the ruling class and for the wealth to be redistributed now.

This video sums up the general idea behind Occupy Wall Street.

So, what can be done to reach a resolution? Do these protesters have other avenues to use towards real change, or is this perhaps the only effective method left?