Contemporary criminological conflict theory owes a debt to the political theory of Karl Marx. According to Marx, social inequalities arise as a result of economic instability within a society, which breeds crime. Max Weber developed Marx's theory, adding that emotional factors created by disparities of status, religious values or political affiliations also generate social conflict.
In the context of criminology, conflict theory presupposes tension between economically advantaged and disadvantaged members of society. According to this theory, laws are designed to protect the life and property of upper-class citizens, at the expense of the lower-class. In his 1973 essay "The Saints and the Roughnecks," William J. Chambliss, Professor of Sociology at George Washington University, observes that "the discovery, processing and punishing of some kinds of criminality and not others means that visible, poor, non-mobile, outspoken, undiplomatic 'tough' kids will be noticed, whether their actions are seriously delinquent or not ."
Conflict theory proposes that a power struggle ceaselessly occurs between social classes, as opposed to a progressive procurement of a balance of power. In a conflict-pluralist vision of society, competing interest groups engage in an ongoing struggle for power, "with no single group emerging as victorious for a long duration, and with most organized groups having sufficient power to destabilize complete dominance by any others," according to Werner J. Einstadter and Stuart Henry, authors of "Criminological Theory: An Analysis of its Underlying Assumptions."
Enduring concerns of criminological conflict theory include determining how norms and values are legitimized, accounting for bureaucratic inefficiency and describing group formation. While some theorists contend that a social elite endeavors to manipulate the attitudes and behaviors of the masses, other theorists believe that no single group monopolizes power, and that every individual within a society is exposed to a wide array of internal and external conflicts.
The German-British sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf contends that traditional views of conflict theorists are no longer relevant, since significant changes in societal structure have moderated economic factors responsible for social inequalities. As legal protections have been introduced to foster equality for underprivileged minorities, workers have also received protection through union representation and collective bargaining practices. Furthermore, workers are also able to can exert ownership over factors of production through purchases of stock issues in joint stock limited companies.