Emile Durkheim Division Of Labour Analysis

1363 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Consequences of industrialization on society

The division of labour is the call to specialization that will come about when technology advances and populations become denser like those of cities as argued by Durkheim (Carls, n.d.). He used the example of transition of societies from mechanical to organic solidarities as a vehicle to show that division of labour has a definite impact on social integration and morality. Whereas it can be enticing to follow suit and agree with the thinking of a great visionary, there are problems with applying that to today’s context. There are underlying assumptions that do not hold true, and as such it cannot be said that division of labour always has an impact on social integration and morality. Social integration can be seen as social solidarity in Durkheim’s …show more content…

The same however cannot be said when the context changes. In today’s world, division of labour still occurs but it does not bring about social integration as the division of labour can happen across seas. With the improvement of transportation technology, people are more mobile than ever leading to phenomenon such as globalisation. People are still dependent on one another for specialisations the other person has, like how Durkheim hypothesized. However, this dependency can be seen to promote alienation rather than social integration today (Marx, Engels, & Tucker, …show more content…

In the real world it is not so and this leads to social conflict. For example to climb higher in the corporate ladder, it is important to have soft skills such as people management and long-term planning. The division of labour only concerns itself with the efficient distribution of labour in society to generate stability in society. Thus with the justification of stability in society, those who have better soft skills are placed into seats of power through division of labour. According to division of labour alone, this would not cause any problems and society would enjoy the stability due to efficient allocation of labour and the interdependence of its members forming a new

Show More
Related

  • Nickel And Dimed: Structural Functional And Conflict Perspective

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a sociologist we look at two different perspectives, there is structural functional perspective and the conflict perspective. Out of the two perspectives I agree with the conflict perspective more than I do the structural functional perspective, and I’m going to use this perspective throughout my paper. I choose this perspective because as much as we want society to be “fair” and it work smoothly, it just doesn’t. We have struggle for power and I believe there are the groups that are powerful and wealthy, and there are some groups that are the working class and struggle to make it. I also picked this perspective because in the book Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich gave up the power and wealth to struggle with the working class to show us how truly difficult it sometimes can be.

    Read More

  • Marx Alienated Labor Analysis

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marx, discuss a certain concept of alienated labor as an unavoidable result of capitalist system. The framework that he tries to draw in the book is that capitalist system should be blamed to have class strafication and alienated labor in the society. In a capitalist society people suffer from class conflict and property ownership of bourgeoisie. Bourgeoisie owns the big factories and businesses so then, small manufacturers have to shut down and basically have to join the labors in the big businesses. Workers in capitalist system are obligated to work for long hours under unhealthy conditions for really low salaries. In order to feed a family provide just basic needs, they have to accept those conditions otherwise they would be down the street without any source of income. While bourgeoisie class is enjoying large profits and luxuries life that has been provided by the effort of labors, they can barely themselves and the family.

    Read More

  • The Division of Labor in Society by Emily Durkheim

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Marx and Durkheim’s View on the Benefits and Dangers of Modern Capitalism

    1978 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...fitting from modern capitalism as they increase profits through the labour theory of value, while exploiting the proletariats. On the other hand, the proletariats are at danger, as they become alienated through mass production and the labour theory of value does not work in their favour. Durkheim views the specialization of labour to be effective until it is pushed too far, resulting in a state of anomie. The division of labour can be seen as beneficial to society as it allows mass production, increased profits, and creativity and interests to be used among individuals, keeping their human identity. At the same time, the division of labour can be seen as dangerous, as over specialization leads to anomie. Through both Marx and Durkheim, we can conclude that modern capitalism has both its benefits and dangers towards individuals and societies in a capitalist economy.

    Read More

  • Karl Marx on Estranged Labor

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marx explains the condition. of estranged labour as the result of man participating in an institution alien to his nature. It is my interpretation that man is alienated from his labour because he is not the reaper. of what he sows. Because he is never the recipient of his efforts, the labourer lacks identity with what he creates.

    Read More

  • Differences Between Marx And Engels

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marx vison of the division of labor consists of this struggle between classes. That all of the ideas that we use as our own are really originated by the upper class to sustain and uphold their power over the lower class. The ideas of the ruling class are used simply to justify their procession of material stuff while you have nothing. Durkheim’s primary view of the division of labor was that of interdependence and social solidarity. I feel that both are generally convincing, but Marx makes a better argument. It is clear to see there has and will most likely always be class struggle. Our society is made up of hierarchical ladders, someone will always think they are better and need to be in

    Read More

  • Strengths And Weaknesses Of Emile Durkheim

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • A Critical Analysis Of Estranged Labor By Karl Marx

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    Karl Marx’s article titled Estranged Labor as found in his 1844 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts pays significant attention to the political economic system, which is commonly referred to capitalism. He further delves into nature of the political economy with a keen focus on how it has negatively impacted the worker or laborer. Therefore, the laborer forms the subject of his critical and detailed analysis as tries demonstrates the ill nature of the political economy. To start with Karl Marx portrays how the political economy as presented by its proponents has led to emergence of two distinct classes in society; the class of property owners and on the other hand, the class of property less workers. According to Karl Marx (2004), proponents of the political economy have introduced concepts such as private property and competition indicating without providing any form of analytical explanation but rather just expecting the society to embrace and apply such concepts. In particular, political economists have failed to provide a comprehensive explanation for division that has been established between capital and labor. Estranged Labor clearly depicts Marx’s dissatisfaction as well as disapproval towards the political economy indicating that proponents of such a system want the masses to blindly follow it without any form of intellectual or practical explanation. One area that Karl Marx demonstrates his distaste and disappointment in the article is worker or the laborer and how the worker sinks to not just a commodity but rather a wretched commodity (Marx, 2004). This is critical analysis of Karl Marx concept or phenomenon on the alienation of the worker as predicted in Estranged Labor in several aspects and how these concepts are ...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Weber And Emheim Durkheim

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel: The Relationship between Society and the Individual

    3473 Words  | 7 Pages

    Each of the four classical theorists Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Simmel had different theories of the relationship between society and the individual. It is the objective of this paper to critically evaluate the sociological approaches of each theory to come to a better understanding of how each theorist perceived such a relationship and what it means for the nature of social reality.

    Read More

  • Theory of Alienation: Marx and Nietzsche

    2372 Words  | 5 Pages

    Marx’s theory of alienation is the process by which social organized productive powers are experienced as external or alien forces that dominate the humans that create them. He believes that production is man’s act on nature and on himself. Man’s relationship with nature is his relationship with his tools, or means of production. Man’s relationship with himself is fundamentally his relationship to others. Since production is a social concept to Marx, man’s relationship with other men is the relations of production. Marx’s theory of alienation specifically identifies the problems that he observed within a capitalist society. He noted that workers lost determination by losing the right to be sovereign over their own lives. In a capitalist society, the workers, or Proletariats, do not have control over their productions, their relationship with other producers, or the value or ownership of their production. Even though he identifies the workers as autonomous and self-realizing, the Bourgeoisie dictates their goals and actions to them. Since the bourgeoisie privately owns the means of production, the workers’ product accumulates surplus only for the interest of profit, or capital. Marx is unhappy with this system because he believes that the means of production should be communally owned and that production should be social. Marx believes that under capitalism, man is alienated in four different ways. First, he says that man, as producers, is alienated from the goods that he produces, or the object. Second, man is alienated from the activity of labor to where...

    Read More

  • Individualism In An Individualist Society

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    For many centuries there has been arguments between whether a society should be collective or individualistic. In an individualistic society, the idea is that the individual's life belongs to him and he has the right to pursue what he wishes. In a collective society, the individual's life belongs to the group and the individual must sacrifice the values they hold for the “greater good” of the group. The main question asked in this debate is whether an individual's life belongs to him or does it belong to the group. By working as individuals, a society is able to achieve more than a group and can enjoy more benefits and therefore should be individualistic.

    Read More

  • Karl Marx And Durkheim

    2731 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Three Sociologists: Marx, Durheim, and Weber

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    A topic area which all three sociologists Marx, Durkheim and Weber argued and discussed in different views, was social inequality and social structure, all there sociologists had their own theories on what they would class social inequality and social structure as. Paul Watts (2007) speaks about his thoughts on social inequality, as a rise to a plethora of ways, including how we understand and explain the relationship between individuals and their social settings. An example cou...

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Karl Marx and Max Weber

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    The changes accompany the transition from one epoch to another. In the late nineteenth century labor has become a commodity to the merchants, and the formation of a new mode of production has risen which gave rise to a capitalist society. There is a new class distinction between the laborer and those who owned the means of production.

    Read More

More about Emile Durkheim Division Of Labour Analysis

Open Document