How can we link conflict theory to child poverty?

Conflict theory is one of the three main sociological perspectives.  It holds that all conditions and institutions in society come about through conflict between two or more groups within society.  Groups with different interests come into conflict with one another and whoever prevails in that conflict gets to make the rules for that particular aspect of society. 

If every aspect of society comes about because of conflict, then child poverty must be caused by conflict. ...

Conflict theory is one of the three main sociological perspectives.  It holds that all conditions and institutions in society come about through conflict between two or more groups within society.  Groups with different interests come into conflict with one another and whoever prevails in that conflict gets to make the rules for that particular aspect of society. 

If every aspect of society comes about because of conflict, then child poverty must be caused by conflict.  In the United States, at least, we can identify at least two types of conflict that cause child poverty.  First, we can say that child poverty arises from conflict between the poor and others.  People who are not poor want to keep the poor in poverty.  This ensures a cheap source of labor, allowing others in society to, for example, enjoy relatively cheap restaurant food and yard maintenance services.  The non-poor also set up rules that keep poor children from getting ahead so that those children will not be able to compete with their own children later in life.  In the United States, child poverty could also be linked to racial or ethnic conflict.  We know that disproportionate numbers of black and Hispanic children are poor.  Conflict theorists would say that these non-white children are poor because their race/ethnicity has lost out in conflict with whites (and perhaps with Asians).  In this view, racial and ethnic prejudice has caused conflict between these groups.  Whites have won this conflict and have set up a society that helps them prosper while making it harder for African Americans and Hispanics to do so.  This causes children from the two non-white groups to suffer from poverty more often.

In these ways, it is possible to link child poverty to the ideas of the conflict perspective.