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Contribution of Karl Marx to sociological thought
The 6 fathers of sociology
Contribution of Karl Marx to sociological thought
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Three men, each with their own views of society and each called Fathers of Sociology and Modern Sociology by the people that continue to study their theories as it relates to society. In order to compare and contrast them, each must be given a short synopsis (if that is ever possible) of a key point in their theory and interpretation of society. Durkheim introduces us to the concept of “anomie”. Anomie, as explained by Durkheim’s theory, is the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society. Durkheim explained mechanical solidarity, in early society, where there was not a lot of diversity, people lived in small communities (generally farming), had economic similarity and were mostly homogenous. Durkheim argues that in the last five-hundred years, society has shifted to an organic solidarity which is defined as a society based on interdependency. Society has moved to a heterogeneous form in society. People within society now have the ability to leave the original community, to have smaller families, live in larger communities. Durkheim goes on to explain that when people go through the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity, there is uncertainty and a slowness to adapt. He defines this state of anomie as a state of “normlessness”, or insufficient normative regulation. As a structural-functionalist, Durkheim believed that harmony, rather than conflict, defined society, and studied the division of labor, religion and suicide from this perspective.
Karl Marx, on the other hand focuses his theories on the relationship between human lives and a capitalist economy. The theory of historical materialism provides a framework for analyzing human society and the laws of its development. Mar...
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...n more money other than for that purpose.
Finally, to summarize this power trio in sociological theory, Karl Marx (1818-1883) sees society in conflict over food, money and material goods. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) believes society is held together by shared values, which change over time as these societies become larger and more diverse. Max Weber (1864-1920) agrees with Marx that people will rise up to protect their own interests but also agrees with Durkheim that those interests are determined by shared values. He also believed that society, as it becomes larger also becomes more bureaucratic. Each of these men developed their theories from different perspectives. Marx formed his theories from conflict-theory, Durkheim from a structural-functional view and Weber is considered an interpretivist/dialectical theorist and focuses on organizational sociology.
Durkheim was concerned with what maintained the cohesion of social structures. He was a functionalist, he believed each aspect of society contributes to society 's stability and functioning as a whole. He theorised that society stayed united for two reasons “mechanical solidarity” and “organic solidarity.” Premodern societies were held together by mechanical solidarity, a type of social order maintained through a minimal division of labour and a common collective consciousness. Such societies permitted a low degree of individual autonomy, Social life was fixed and there was no sense of self. They had retributive legal systems so no individual action or deviance from the common conscience was tolerated. In industrialised modern societies Durkheim says Mechanical solidarity is replaced with organic solidarity. In organic solidarity capitalist societies their is a high division of labour which requires the specialisation of jobs people do, this allows for individual autonomy
Durkheim is called one of the two principal founders of the modern phase of sociological Theory. He is stablished that brought him work for the analysis of social systems. The framework Remain the central to Sociology, a few related anthropologies. Durkheim was born in the town of Epinal. He was of Jewish percentage, some of his friends were rabbis. He was expected to be a rabbi but he became an agnostic. In 1886, there have took a year leave to study in Germany, where he was impressed by the psychologist Wundt. The ham was concerned with how societies could maintain the integrity and coherence in modern society.
On his own, Durkheim contributed a number of elements to the newly founded field. Firstly, in 1893, Durkheim published his first major work, The Division of Labor in Society. (Johnson 51) This book was groundbreaking, in that he introduced the concept of "anomie", which is the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society. Next, in 1895, he published The Rules of Sociological Method, which was his second major work. This was a manifesto discussing what sociology is and how it ought to be taught and carried out. Then, he published his third major work, Suicide: A Study in Sociology. This was a case study that explored the differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, and argued that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. In 1912, Durkheim published his last major work, The Elementary Forms of The Religious Life. This book analyzes religion, through the lens of a social phenomenon.
This theory concentrates on different parts of society to see how it works, for example, a church, family and government this perspective looks at these to see what contribution this play to the entire social system. Durkheim states that the social system work’s like an organic system it can be he same way the body works which parts of the body are all depended on another, this theorist explains society is like this. We Must “Analyse the contribution which practises the institution makes to the continuation of society as a whole” (Giddens p.710 1995)
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.
Durkheim was concerned with studying and observing the ways in which society functioned. His work began with the idea of the collective conscious, which are the general emotions and opinions that are shared by a society and which shape likeminded ideas as to how the society will operate (Desfor Edles and Appelrouth 2010:100-01). Durkheim thus suggested that the collective ideas shared by a community are what keeps injustices from continuing or what allows them to remain.
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...
In his Manifesto of the Communist Party Karl Marx created a radical theory revolving not around the man made institution of government itself, but around the ever present guiding vice of man that is materialism and the economic classes that stemmed from it. By unfolding the relat...
Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim are considered the founding fathers of sociology and both had profound influence on the development of sociology. However, some may say that they differ dearly in their views about society. Although there are differences in outlooks between the two, one thing noticeable is Marx and Durkheim shared the same concern over society and its development. They were both, in particular concerned with the rise of the modern system of division of labour and the evolution of market society taking place in the domain of modern capitalism. Both approached these developments by introducing a theory of their own to shed light on the effects that modern capitalism had on solidarity and on society’s ability to reproduce itself. More so, to understand and solve the problems arose as the societies in which they lived moved from a pre-industrial to an industrial state. For Marx, one of the serious problems arose in this was what he termed alienation. On the other, for Durkheim it was what he called anomie. The purpose of this essay is to examine the underlying differences of these two notions and in hope that it may help us to better understand the different visions of society developed by these two great social thinkers. Firstly, we start off with Marx’s idea of alienation. Secondly, what anomie means to Durkheim. Then a comparison will be done on the two concepts, evaluating the similarities and differences between the two. Lastly, we will finally come to conclude how the concept of alienation differs from the concept of anomie.
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.
Marx, in his theory of historical materialism, advocates that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces. His theory focuses on the class struggles and the human attempts to control and dominate the natural environment. Profits obtained by the capitalists are a result of the workers being exploited. This conflict will lead to a revolution in which the workers control the state. Thus, capitalism will be replaced by socialism. The result is freedom for all. In the Soviet Union, the lower class overthrew the ruling class and created a new mode of production. This new economic base then determined political, social and ideological changes in its society. The failure of the Soviet Union impacts the validity of Marxian historical materialism because it discredits materialistic
"History is nothing but the succession of separate generations, each of which exploits the materials, capital, and productive forces handed down to it by all preceding generations." Marx resists any abstraction from this idea, believing that his materialistic ideas alone stand supported by empirical evidence which seems impossible to the Hegelian. His history then begin...
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).
Marx defined historical materialism in the preface of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy that, “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, on the contrary, their social existence that determines their consciousness.” In contrast to idealism, which prioritized the value of human ideas, historical materialism insisted that the existence of human kinds pushed the productions; and mode of production shaped human consciousness in return. The contradictory between Idealism and historical materialism lie between whether it was evolvement of consciousness steering for societal changes or the other way around. While choosing one of them as individual political philosophy, it was very similar of answering question, “which came first, chicken or egg?” Personally, I favor for historical materialism for “consciousness is determined by your beings” seems rational as well as logical.
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.