A Conflict Theorist's View of Occupy Wall Street

Karl Marx’s ideas influenced a theory called “The Conflict Theory”, which states that our social problems are caused by class conflict between rich and poor. He thought that material and non-material resources separated different groups in society. In a sense, Marx saw money as the ultimate power resource, being a key reason why a few (i.e. the wealthy elite) use this to then exploit the people of lower classes, avoid most social problems, and live an overall better life than most.

In recent weeks, our nation has seen the Occupy Wall Street movement sweeping the nation. In my personal exploration of this issue, it would seem that most protestors are lobbying for a more equal distribution of wealth and power. A conflict theorist would actually support this revolution, seeing the reason for protesting as strife between the rich and powerful and the poorer citizens who have neither. A Conflict Theorist believes that social revolution and change is the only way to alter inequalities between social classes.

I actually identify with the Occupy Wall Street protestors, for I believe that there is quite an unequal distribution of wealth and power, especially after the great recession. Here is a statistic I want to point out: Edward Wolff, a prominent economist, recently pointed out that there has been an "astounding" 36.1% drop in the wealth (marketable assets) of the median household since 2007. By contrast, the wealth of the top 1% of households dropped by far less: just 11.1% (Domhoff) Also, those citizens in the top 20% financially, own approximately 85-90% of the TOTAL wealth in America (Domhoff). If this isn’t a fundamental Marxist reason for rebelling, then I don’t know what is.

Check out this short news clip on the Occupy protests. I really liked how the little kid in it compared Wall Street to the “reverse of robin hood”. He said, “They steal from the poor to give to the rich”. A conflict theorist would support his views because they believe that the rich are in the business hoarding the wealth to retain power, which in turn prevent everyone else from gaining any.

Works Cited

Domhoff, W.G. (2011) Wealth, Income, and Power. Retrieved from http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html