Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim are without a doubt three of the most important theorist of all time. Their contribution to the world of sociology changed the minds of other theorist who followed behind them. One of these important theorists is known as W.E.B. Du Bois, the first American sociologist of religion, and great social theorist of race. Du Bois was a truly inspiring individual who did many great things throughout his lifetime. My focus is not only on explaining who Du Bois was as a person, but to compare and contrast his theories to that of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim.
Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community in Barrington, Massachusetts,. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Racism was the main target of Du Bois's polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. His cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism.
Du Bois was also a prolific author. His collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, was a seminal work in African-American literature; and his 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction in America challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction era. He wrote the first scientific treatise in the field of sociology; and he published three autobiographies, each of which contains insightful essays on sociology, politics and histor...
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...approach as he focused on truly different aspects of how he conducted his studies. As he learned much from other theorist he was able to take them and apply it to a completely new way, which enabled him to present his concepts differently.
Du Bois now gets more attention than before but still is not recognized to those such as Marx, Weber, or Durkheim. Du Bois concepts will only become greater and more appreciated as time goes by, especially for his work on racism. In our world today many things are different concerning race and if Du Bois was here now I believe he would be proud of where we have come. Although I still feel we have a long way to go. Overall, Du Bois has many enormous contributions to sociology and much of his work was learned by other great theorist of his time. All in which contributed in one way or another to the great sociologist he truly became.
Rudwick, Elliott. "W. E. B. Du Bois (American Sociologist and Social Reformer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
WEB DuBois's Influence on Literature and People. In his work The Souls of Black Folk, web DuBois had described the life and problems that blacks in America are not easy. DuBois had a very different plan in the struggle for black equality and the struggle for the abolishment of racism than other people that wanted a "separate black" nation" and others that just wanted the blacks to stay submissive. DuBois only wanted blacks to work hard to become active parts of American society.
In his book, The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology (2015), Aldon D. Morris delves
Du Bois graduated from Fisk in 1888, and entered Harvard as a junior. During college he preferred the company of Black students and Black Bostonians. He graduated from Harvard in 1890. Yet he felt that he needed further preparation and study in order to be able to apply "philosophy to an historical interpretation of race relations." He decided to spend another two years at the University of Berlin on a Slater Fund Fellowship.
B., Du Bois W. E. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1979. University of Virginia Library. 4 Oct. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. 37.
W.E.B. Du Bois is a world-renowned American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and author whose life goal was to educate African Americans and whites about the realities of race by posing and answering the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?” On the other hand, William Faulkner is an American writer whose specialty in Southern and American literature won him a Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford. Faulkner’s Southern literature illustrated the difficulties of being behind a societal veil, with special attention to gender and racial issues. Both of these authors have attempted to tackle the difficult questions regarding race and addressed some ties between race and economics. Du Bois focuses on the black narrative and Faulkner
He did not experience the harsh conditions of slavery. Dubois was raised in a majority white community, and at Harvard University became the first African American to attain a doctorate degree. Like Washington, Dubois agreed that “blacks” needed to become economically independent and find civil equality. However, W.E.B Dubois was offended at racial injustice and inequality. Du Bois understood Washington’s program, but believed this wasn’t the solution Unlike Washington, he demanded that African Americans should immediately have the right to vote, equal rights, and be granted more equal educational opportunities to. WEB Dubois wanted educational reform in a way that fulfilled requirements for African American students. WEB Du Bois declared African American demands through his “Declaration of the Principles of the Niagara Movement,” in which he demanded social equality. This movement led to the creation of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The leaders of NAACP often criticized Washington. WEB Dubois opposed Washington’s methods regarding black discrimination. Washington believed the only way to end racial segregation against blacks in the long run was to gain support and cooperation with Whites. Dubois wanted full equality
Du Bois's book provides an insight into how African- Americans felt, and handled things during this controversial time. The main topics of The Souls of Black Folk include African- American worldviews, the policies of Booker T Washington, the impact of segregation and discrimination upon black folk, stereotypes, African- American history and spirituality, and generl feelings possesed by African- Americans of this time. Du Bois makes some very stron point and includes his own perspective in his writing. Du Bois even created his own ideals of how black folks could achieve complete freedom. In his opinion, the most important aspects of life that African-Americans should be granted with are, the right to an education, the right to vote, and the right to be treated justly and as an equal. This is an apperant opinion of his throughout the entir...
Desfor Edles, Laura and Scott Appelrouth. 2010. “Émile Durkheim (1858-1917).” Pp. 100 and 122-134 in Sociological Theory in the Classical Era. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are two incredibly famous civil rights activists in United States history. Although they both sought to uplift blacks socially and economically across the country, they clashed over the best strategy for doing so. Coming from vastly different backgrounds, it’s understandable as to why they disagreed. However, as is evident by our current societal problems, Du Bois was the one who had the correct plan. That doesn’t mean that Washington’s ideas were wrong, but they were a temporary solution to a permanent and systematic problem.
W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were two very influential leaders in the black community during the late 19th century, early 20th century. However, they both had different views on improvement of social and economic standing for blacks. Booker T. Washington, an ex-slave, put into practice his educational ideas at Tuskegee, which opened in 1881. Washington stressed patience, manual training, and hard work. He believed that blacks should go to school, learn skills, and work their way up the ladder. Washington also urged blacks to accept racial discrimination for the time being, and once they worked their way up, they would gain the respect of whites and be fully accepted as citizens. W.E.B. Du Bois on the other hand, wanted a more aggressive strategy. He studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and the University of Berlin before he went on to study at Harvard. He then took a low paying research job at the University of Pennsylvania, using a new discipline of sociology which emphasized factual observation in the field to study the condition of blacks. The first study of the effect of urban life on blacks, it cited a wealth of statistics, all suggesting that crime in the ward stemmed not from inborn degeneracy but from the environment in which blacks lived. Change the environment, and people would change too; education was a good way to go about it. The different strategies offered by W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington in dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by Black Americans were education, developing economic skills, and insisting on things continually such as the right to vote. ...
Du Bois was a scholar activist who proposed lots of solutions for the issue of racism and discrimination. Du Bois was sort of an opposition to Washington’s ideology, as he strongly believes that it can only help to disseminate white’s oppression towards blacks. We can see his dissatisfaction based on his writing with a title On Booker T. Washington and Others. He wrote that Washington’s philosophy was really not a good idea because the white extremists from the south will perceived this idea as blacks’ complete surrender for the request of civil rights and political equality. Du Bois had a different view on this issue if compared to Washington because of their different early lifestyles. Unlike Washington, Du Bois was born free in the North and he did not receive any harsh experienced as a slave himself and was also grew up in a predominantly white area. In his writings, it is obvious that he thought that the most important thing that the black should gain was to have the equality with whites. Regarding the issue of the voting rights, Du Bois strongly believed that it is important for black people to agitate to get the right to vote. He also believed that the disfranchisement of poor men could mean the catastrophe of South’s democracy (Painter 157). In his writing with a title Of Our Spiritual Strivings, he wrote that it was significant for blacks to exercise the right to vote because there were whites that wanted to put them back in their inferior position—and it was
Throughout his essay, Du Bois challenged Booker T. Washington’s policy of racial accommodation and gradualism. In this article Du Bois discusses many issues he believes he sees
Durkheim and DuBois are both Non rational, Collective thinkers whose actions are motivated by morals and ethics, principles, practices, beliefs, habits, or passion, and the lives of the past are patterns, which are the result of the futures’ fundamental formation. Both theorists have concepts, and studies which overlap with one another, and both theorists can be combined in their ideas through W.E.B. Du Bois’ classical work The Souls of Black Folks. In the book the metaphorical veil is brought to attention as the visual manifestation of the colour line, while in Durkheim’s theories the symbolic veil can be viewed as a sacred and profane object. Durkheim’s theory of the collective representation ties in to the depiction of the blacks and the prejudice behind the veil within society.
Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber are all important characters to be studied in the field of Sociology. Each one of these Sociological theorists, help in the separation of Sociology into its own field of study. The works of these three theorists is very complex and can be considered hard to understand but their intentions were not. They have their similarities along with just as many of their differences.