Conflict theories are perspectives in social science which emphasize the social, political or

material inequality of a social group, which critique the broad socio-political system, or which
otherwise detract from structural functionalism and ideological conservativism. Conflict theories
draw attention to power differentials, such as class conflict, and generally contrast historically
dominant ideologies.

Types of conflict theory according to Marxism

Critical theory -is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge
across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different
origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism. This has led
to the very literal use of 'critical theory' as an umbrella term to describe any theory founded
upon critique.

Feminist theory- is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it

aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's social roles and lived
experience, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology,
psychoanalysis, economics, literary criticism, and philosophy.[1] While generally providing a
critique of social relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on analyzing gender inequality
and the promotion of women's rights, interests, and issues. Themes explored in feminism include
art history[2] and contemporary art,[3][4] aesthetics,[5][6] discrimination, stereotyping, objectification
(especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy.[7][8][9]

Postmodern theory-is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it
is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problematization of objective truth
and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief
that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change
inherent to time and place. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and
motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female,
straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Rather, it holds realities to
be plural and relative, and dependent on who the interested parties are and what their
interests consist in. It attempts to problematise modernist overconfidence, by drawing into
sharp contrast the difference between how confident a speaker is of their position versus how
confident they need to be to serve their supposed purposes. Postmodernism has influenced
many cultural fields, including literary criticism, sociology, linguistics, architecture, visual arts,
and music.

Post-structural theory -primarily encompasses the intellectual developments of certain mid-

20th-century French and continental philosophers and theorists. The movement is difficult to
summarize, but may be broadly understood as a body of distinct responses to structuralism,
which argued that human culture may be understood as a series of signs or symbols; or, put
differently, that human culture may be understood by means of a structure-—modeled on
language—that is distinct both from the organizations of reality and the organization of ideas
and imagination—a "third order."[1] The precise nature of the revision or critique of
structuralism differs with each post-structuralism author, though common themes include the
rejection of the self-sufficiency of the structures that structuralism posits and an interrogation
of the binary oppositions that constitute those structures.[

Postcolonial theory -is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of

reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Post colonialism comprises a set
of theories found amongst philosophy, film, political science, human geography, sociology,
feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature.

Queer theory-is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of
LGBT studies and feminist studies. It is a kind of interpretation devoted to queer readings of
texts. Heavily influenced by the work of Jacob Edwards, queer theory builds both upon feminist
challenges to the idea that gender is part of the essential self and upon gay/lesbian studies' close
examination of the socially constructed nature of sexual acts and identities. Whereas gay/lesbian
studies focused its inquiries into "natural" and "unnatural" behavior with respect to homosexual
behavior, queer theory expands its focus to encompass any kind of sexual activity or identity that
falls into normative and deviant categories.

World systems theory-is a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social
change.

The world-systems theory stresses that world-systems (and not nation states) should be the basic
unit of social analysis.[1][3] World-system refers to the international division of labor, which
divides the world into core countries, semi-periphery countries and the periphery countries.[2][3]
Core countries focus on higher skill, capital-intensive production, and the rest of the world
focuses on low-skill, labor-intensive production and extraction of raw materials.[4] This
constantly reinforces the dominance of the core countries.[4] Nonetheless, the system is dynamic,
and individual states can gain or lose the core (semi-periphery, periphery) status over time.[4] For
a time, some countries become the world hegemony; throughout last few centuries, this status
has passed from the Netherlands, to the United Kingdom and most recently, the United States.[4]