Editing Social conflict theory (section)

==Example (sample of the following)==

Consider the relationship between the owner of a housing complex and a tenant in that same housing complex. A [[consensus theory|consensus theorist]] might suggest that the relationship between the owner and the tenant is founded on mutual benefit. In contrast, a conflict theorist might argue the relationship is based on a conflict in which the owner and tenant are struggling against each other. Their relationship is defined by the balance in their abilities to extract resources from each other, e.g. rent payments or a place to live. The bounds of the relationship are set where each is extracting the maximum possible amount of resources out of the other.

Conflict can take many forms and involve struggle over many different types of resources, including [[social status|status]]. However, formal conflict theory had its foundations in the analysis of [[class conflict]], and the example of the owner and the tenant can be understood in terms of class conflict. In class conflict, owners are likely to have relative advantages over non-owners. For example, the legal system underlying the relationship between the owner and tenant can be biased in favor of the owner. Suppose the owner wishes to keep the tenant's [[security deposit]] after that tenant has moved out of the owner's residence. In legal systems based on English [[common law]], the owner is only required to notify the tenant that the security deposit is being withheld. To regain the security deposit, the tenant must file a lawsuit. The tenant bears the [[Legal burden of proof|burden of proof]] and is therefore required to prove that the residence was adequately cleaned before move-out. This can be a very difficult or even impossible task.

To summarize the example, conflict theorists view the relationship between the owner and tenant as being built primarily on conflict rather than harmony. Even though the owner-tenant relationship may often appear harmonious, any visible harmony is only a product of the law and other elements of the [[base and superstructure|superstructure]] which constrain the relationship and which are themselves a product of an even deeper conflict, [[class conflict]]. A conflict theorist would say that conflict theory holds more explanatory power than consensus theory in this situation since consensus theory cannot explain lawsuits between owners and tenants nor the legal foundations of the asymmetrical power relationship between the two.