Conflict and Critical Theory

Theories treating social order as the outcome of unequal power and contested resources rather than shared function, from Ralf Dahrendorf class-conflict revision of functionalism through Pierre Bourdieu concepts of cultural capital and habitus, the accumulated non-economic advantage and embodied disposition that reproduce class position, feminist theory's own critique of gendered power, and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann social constructionism, the study of how social reality is built and sustained through shared meaning rather than given as fact. Belongs here: a theory centering power, inequality or the social construction of reality. Does not belong here: a theory centering system stability and shared function, grouped under Structural-Functionalist Theory.