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Comparison between marx and durkheim
Idea of marx and durkheim
Idea of marx and durkheim
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Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx Throughout time, sociologists have studied our social behaviors and developed theories to explain such behaviors. Two of the most well-known sociologists are Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx. One of the most important thing that they have both studied that we have examined in class is capitalism and the division of labor, and how it affects the individual and the collective. Although their ideas were different, they each presented evidence to prove their theories about this topic. Emile Durkheim, a french sociologist, philosopher, and social psychologist is considered to be one of the “fathers” of social science and sociology. He attended the University of Paris and the University of Bordeaux where he studied social
As a college student, I work at the Kroger Deli, which is a very task-oriented job. Some days can become very busy with not only waiting on customers, but also unloading the orders that come in from the places we buy our products from, producing several different types of food, working a register, and still maintaining a clean workplace. In this sort of work environment, it is very essential to have multiple workers there to make sure the tasks get down. Basically, in our department, we have a microcosm division of labor where we all have to put in a certain amount of time and effort so that we can get a paycheck each week. Of course there are problems that come of having people work together as a collective to get things done, but most of the time it creates a sense of social belonging in way. This can depend on who is working that day and what kind of worker they are, but I believe that there are good and bad works at every work
He worked closely with a famous german thinker, Friedrich Engels and wrote several different books and ideas about society and their findings on social topics. Marx’s ideas of capitalism and the division of labor were opposing of Durkheim’s. Being a conflict theorist, he argued that the division of labor caused several different issues that affected both the individual and the collective like recurrent crises in the economy and alienation. He said that it would create inequality between social groups because of how the system works. Marx focused on change and how changing certain aspects of society could better improve the way it works so that it is fair to everyone. According to Marx, social life originates in material life and the progress is in the transformations of material life and that change is driven by contradictions. This includes both material and intellectual life and prosperity and
Division of labor created alienation for the proletarians, this is why Marx suggest abolishing the private property. The lower class stop living for themselves and live to make their owners rich. This is a problem because everyone that does not belong to the upper class suffer economically and mentally. If this pattern does not change then it will continue to be passed generation after generation. “... by the overthrow of the existing state of society by the communist revolution and the abolition of private property which is identical with it, this power, which so baffles the German theoreticians, will be accomplished in the measure in which history becomes transformed into world history” (p.163). Abolishing private property will set the lower class free and bring desire to live once again and thrive. To break this barrier economic power needs to be removed from the hands of privileged
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” (Winston Churchill??). Despite the differences between the two types of societies, they both concern the sharing of wealth and the circumstances under which it is acquired. They also deal with class conflict and ways in which it could be resolved. Theorist’s Durkheim and Marx approach this matter differently. Durkheim, employed a functionalist approach on class conflict believing that it was generated by anomie and modern society could only function if every part of the society worked cohesively. Contrarily, Marx uses a materialist approach to understand class conflict by arguing that humans were heavily
Emile Durkheim is largely credited as the man who made Sociology a science. As a boy, he was enraptured by the scientific approach to society, but at that time, there was no social science curriculum. Vowing to change this, Durkheim worked scrupulously to earn his “degree in philosophy in 1882”. (Johnson 34) Unable to change the French school system right away, Emile traveled to Germany to further his education. It was there that he published his initial findings and gained the knowledge necessary to influence the French education system. Emile Durkheim is a distinguished and well versed man who, through his work, established a platform for other sociologist to build on.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) were sociologists who both existed throughout similar time periods of the 19th and early 20th centuries, resulting in both Marx, and Durkheim to be concerned about similar effects and impacts among society (Appelrouth and Edles: 20, 77). Marx’s main focus was on class distinctions among the bourgeoisie and proletariat, forces and relations of production, capital, surplus value, alienation, labour theory of value, exploitation and class consciousness (Appelrouth and Edles: 20). Whereas Durkheim’s main focus was on social facts, social solidarity – mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity, anomie, collective conscience, ritual, symbol, and collective representations (Appelrouth and Edles: 77). For the purpose of this essay, we will be focusing on the concerns that arised among Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim towards the benefits and dangers of modern capitalism. Marx and Durkheim’s concepts are comparable in the sense that Marx focuses on alienation and classes, which is similar to Durkheim’s concepts of anomie and the division of labour. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution and technological advances can be seen as a key factor that gave emergence to modern capitalism, as the economic system was based on private ownership, mass production, and increased profits, resulting in people to be separated based on class and the division of labour, later giving rise to alienation and anomie. In this essay, I will explore Karl Marx’s and Émile Durkheim’s evaluation of the benefits and dangers that came about with the rise of modern capitalism. Through these two theorists and sociologists, we can analyze, discuss, compare, critique, and come to understand how modern cap...
Emile Durkheim was born in 1858 in the region of France known as the Alsace-Lorraine. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been rabbis, however Durkheim quickly decided against following into the rabbinate early in his youth (Jones 1986). Durkheim excelled in science as a student, however his weakness in studying Latin and rhetoric caused him to fail the entrance exams to Ecole twice before he passed (Jones 1986). Durkheim trained to be a teacher at Ecole, as well as participated in lively debates, in which he advocated for the republican cause (Jones 1986). It was also at this time that Durkheim first read Comte and Spencer (Calhoun 2002). It was partially through these sources that Durkheim came to view social science and culture as an organic whole. Durkheim then went to
Three thinkers form the foundations of modern-day sociological thinking. Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. Each developed different theoretical approaches to help us understand the way societies function, and how we are determined by society. This essay will focus on the contrasts and similarities of Durkheim and Weber’s thought of how we are determined by society. It will then go on to argue that Weber provides us with the best account of modern life.
Karl Marx noted that society was highly stratified in that most of the individuals in society, those who worked the hardest, were also the ones who received the least from the benefits of their labor. In reaction to this observation, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto where he described a new society, a more perfect society, a communist society. Marx envisioned a society, in which all property is held in common, that is a society in which one individual did not receive more than another, but in which all individuals shared in the benefits of collective labor (Marx #11, p. 262). In order to accomplish such a task Marx needed to find a relationship between the individual and society that accounted for social change. For Marx such relationship was from the historical mode of production, through the exploits of wage labor, and thus the individual’s relationship to the mode of production (Marx #11, p. 256).
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.
Adding to earlier strain theories from theorist like the French Emile Durkheim, who is considered one of the fathers of sociology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philoso...
Marx believed that the class system was the main problem and should be demolished. He believed that everyone should be equal and should work together in order to create. In his thoughts in The Communist Manifesto, he tells of all the benefits due to the many changes that will be made in his classless society. Socially everyone will be looked upon as equal, and everyone will contribute to their society. Intellectually, the people will not be selfish and will all come together to combine their ideas. Politically things will be different since there will be no government. Also, religions will be abolished and there will be no higher beings. Economically, property will not be privately owned and everything will be shared by all. In this society, there are many problems and this seems like a great way to bring about change.
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.
Emile Durkheim is another sociologist who used Herbert Spencer’s theory to explain the change in society. He believed that society is a very intricate system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability (Durkheim 1893). This ensures that the social world is held together by shared values and languages. He wrote the Division of Labor.
The more goods the worker produced the more the workers felt as an alien to his own product. Workers efforts and labor did not belong to him, but belong to the owner of the company that hired him. Workers labor came from within as a natural act but also exists outside of him from what was produce and means a loss of his self. Work is a critical source of identity and life purpose of a human being. Marx wrote the “Manifesto of Class Struggle” which is between the upper class and the lower class. Lower class was known as the proletariat and their labor through the means of production. Higher class is known as the bourgeoisie they are the dominant class that deprived the lower class of their lively hood. Political institutions shaped the society according to their own happiness. The world expanded through industrialization, means of production and exchange and capitalism. In the labour-power and capital it that the commodities are objects that promise human needs and wants. Exchange-value allows a commodity traded in equal value to another commodity. The value of a commodity was determined by Marx on how long it takes for the product completed and how many times it can be
During the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Max Weber were two of the most influential sociologists. Both of them tried to explain social change taking place in a society at that time. On the one hand, their views are very different, but on the other hand, they had many similarities.
Marx thought of a society that would create equality and bring power to the people. He didn 't expect society to be totally equal but a society with distributed justice. According to Marx, a good society is when there is no exploitation. To get rid of exploitation, we have to get rid of surplus values and make everyone equal. But Marx also knows that no good society can exist as long as exploitation is allowed. That is why some societies will want a Marx type of living and some will not. A society that has used and embodied the Marxist tradition is Russia. They have used Marx ideas and lived by the communist manifesto. This way of life worked for many years and to the people of Russia, it made a good society. But to people outside of Russia, people who lived in a democratic state or country, they looked at it as a failed society. A type of society that should not be allowed to exist in the world of democracy. But like Marx said, some societies will be able to live in a Marxist environment and some won’t. Marx also states, “ In a communist society, the working class will be more important than the capital class”(M 10-25-2016). By having everyone equal, this allows for class conflict to be no more and exploitation not exist. Marx knows there can be no good society but a Marxist society will do its best to form a ideal