Conflict theory emphasizes the role of coercion an power, a person's or group's ability to exercise influence and control over others, in producing social order. It states that a society or organization functions so that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits, which inevitably contributes to social change such as changes in politics and revolutions. The theory is mostly applied to explain conflict between social classes, proletarian versus bourgeoisie; and in ideologies such as capitalism versus socialism. It is the theory that a continual struggle exists between all different aspects of a particular society. The struggle that occurs does not always have to involve physical violence. It can pertain to an underlying struggle for each group or individual within a society to maximize its own benefits. The theory was founded by Karl Marx, and later developed by theorists including Max Weber. Variants of conflict theory may depend on radical basic assumptions (society is eternally in conflict, which might explain social change), or moderate ones (custom and conflict are always mixed). The moderate version allows Functionalism as an equally acceptable theory since it would accept that even negative social institutions play a part in society's self-perpetuation.