ABSTRACT
Classes, understood as conflict groups arising out of the authority structure of imperatively coordinated associations, are in conflict. Conflict may, indeed, from a Utopian point of view, be conceived as one of the patterns contributing to the maintenance of the status quo. The substance of the theory of class action, or class conflict, can be summarized in one statement: conflict groups in the sense, once they have organized themselves, engage in conflicts that effect structure changes. One of the crucial elements of the theory of group conflict consists in the strict relation of conflicts to particular associations. As with contexts and types of conflict, the problem of rewards and facilities can be seen in terms of a contrast between divergence and parallelism, or pluralism and superimposition. The relation between the radicalness-suddenness dimension of structure change and the intensity-violence dimension of class conflict is more than merely logical.
