For me, a conflict theorist is someone who thinks the main driver of disagreement is self-interest rather than honest mistakes.
I don’t see how to reconcile this with:
Conflict theorists treat politics as war. Different blocs with different interests are forever fighting to determine whether the State exists to enrich the Elites or to help the People.
It’s pretty hard to tell what you find hard to reconcile in the two quotes.
‘Politics as war’ is the same as ‘different sides fight for their own self-interest’, e.g. “whether the State exists to enrich the Elites or to help the People”.
The ‘honest mistakes’ perspective would be that any particular policy might be good or bad, or whatever mix thereof, and disagreements about that would be due to different beliefs and NOT due to simply supporting one’s side.
I don’t see how to reconcile this with:
It’s pretty hard to tell what you find hard to reconcile in the two quotes.
‘Politics as war’ is the same as ‘different sides fight for their own self-interest’, e.g. “whether the State exists to enrich the Elites or to help the People”.
The ‘honest mistakes’ perspective would be that any particular policy might be good or bad, or whatever mix thereof, and disagreements about that would be due to different beliefs and NOT due to simply supporting one’s side.