Characteristics of conflict in sociology

To review, conflict has the following characteristics:

Interpersonal conflict requires at least two people. Conflict inherently involves some sense of struggle or incompatibility or perceived difference among values, goals, or desires. Action, whether overt or covert, is key to interpersonal conflict.

Conflict theory focuses on the competition between groups within society over limited resources. Conflict theory views social and economic institutions as tools of the struggle between groups or classes, used to maintain inequality and the dominance of the ruling class.

Conflict theory in sociology describes society’s tendency to change and develop due to perpetual conflict between classes. It is one of the four paradigms of sociology, which include functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and feminism. Examples of social conflict theory can be found in a variety of situations.

The opposing force created, the conflict within the story generally comes in four basic types: Conflict with the self, Conflict with others, Conflict with the environment and Conflict with the supernatural.