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Analyze and explain the basic philosophy of max weber
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Emile Durkheim and Max Weber both appealed to me in the reading of chapter 1. They both have similarities and differences on their approaches to sociology. While reading the background of Emile, I found it fascinating how he studied sociology in a way that he put together the individual dimensions and added them together to better understand a society or social group. The case of suicide rates and religion. This one case can be analyzed through other elements, such as careers. For instance, the type of profession can be studied. I am really into statistics and like to break down information. The way he broke down the information to analyze a society or social groups interested me. Max Weber, I chose to write about because I felt he had a refined understanding of his teacher, Karl Marx.
Both lived their lives throughout the same time period. Both were students of teachers and sociologists. Both were of European descent. I have just listed very similar traits about these 2 sociologists.
Weber analyzed much of capitalism and trends that were affected by industrialization. Emiles...
the development of society. It seemed like Weber dislike for traditional and things like supernatural, religion as irrational because they didn’t have a systematic development and instead they depend on personal perceptions which included feelings and emotions that are part of irrationality. Conversely, Weber liked a rationality that was made up of social actions that were practiced with reason or reasoning, calculation and the pursuit of personal interest. In addition, Weber believed that rationality was also part of the rational legal authority and that these had certain characteristics such as calculations. With this, he meant that businesses and institutions would come up calculations of methods that would give results and help achieve the goals. Efficiency is another one with
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
Morrison, K. (2006) Mark, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought. 2nd ed. London: SAGE.
...lay in societal change. However it was only until the works of Durkheim and Simmel that the role of individual interaction and society is brought to the forefront. Durkheim largely viewed the individual as needing society as a mechanism of constraint to the aspirations of an eternal goal. Finally, Simmel was able to expand on Durkheim’s dualism by noting that society could be viewed as more than a mechanism of constraint rather as an accumulation of individual interaction. Either through a combination or as individuals each theorist distinct view of the relationship between the individual and society demonstrates a new understanding towards the nature of social reality.
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.
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, 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.
Weber destabilizes the relationship between base and superstructure that Marx had established. According to Weber, the concept of historical materialism is naïve and nonsense because superstructures are not mere reflections of the economic base. (“The Protestant Ethic” and “The Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5) Weber agrees that the economy is one of the most faithful forces in modern life. However there are other social and legal factors which exhibit power and thus influence society. These factors help define bureaucratic society or Weber’s concept of modern society which operates through the rational administration of labor. According to Weber, the condition of modern society is disenchantment, which, through rationalization (division of labor), worldly activity is no longer motivated by cultural or spiritual values (meaning) but is instead motivated by economic impulsion. Ironically though, Weber attributes religious aestheticism (meaning) to the root of rationalization, and once mechanism (capitalism) takes off on its own, that religious root is no longer needed to justify work. Thus, mechanized petrification emerges, leaving hardly any room for spontaneity, with a few exceptions. In establishing a definition of modern society, Weber, unlike Marx, acknowledges that certain ideas can have great influence on material conditions. He suggests a more complex, dynamic relationship between economy and superstructure. Human activity is motivated by reasons other than just capitalist consumption. For example, many people act based on meaning, such as religious or spiritual. Values shape how people live. Weber accuses Marx of being an economic determinist for believing that the mode of production is the only force that moves the base. Weber believes that social and legal factors such as status, class, party, and the division of social honor from economic order in addition to the economy influence modern society, which, according to Weber, is a bureaucracy organized through the rational administration of labor. Weber believes that human history has been the progressive rationalization of life (modernity). The increased rationalism (measuring/controlling the labor process, ie: assembly line) based on logic and calculations instead of traditions, heart, and feeling of modernity le...
Aside from the conditions, which lead to the creation of these works, they share a number of other common threads. Symbolism aside these works are very similar on the surface. Both are a collection of seemingly disjointed images, which when put together by the reader or observer serve up a strong social message. That messages being that the wars and conflicts of the times have twisted the world. This is reinforced by the contorted and misshapen images in both works.
Simmel combines ideas from all of the three major classical writers and was influenced by Hegel and Kant. When Simmel discusses social structures, the city, money, and modern society, his analysis has some similarities to the analyses of Durkheim (problem of individual and society), Weber (effects of rationalization), and Marx (alienation). Simmel considered society to be an association of free individuals, and said that it could not be studied in the same way as the physical world, i.e. sociology is more than the discovery of natural laws that govern human interaction. "For Simmel, society is made up of the interactions between and among individuals, and the sociologist should study the patterns and forms of these associations, rather than quest after social laws." (Farganis, p. 133). This emphasis on social interaction at the individual and small group level, and viewing the study of these interactions as the primary task of sociology makes Simmel's approach different from that of the classical writers, espe...
The other one is not so well known, his works are commonly are associated with Einstein instead.
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.
Talcott Parsons have some of the same views of sociology as Durkheim, he believed that social life is categorized by social cooperation. Parsons also believed that commitment to common values maintains or...
Weber, Max. 1947. Essays in Sociology. Translated by Gerth and Mills. London: K.Paul, Trench, Trubner
...ford University Press) Both were from the country and early orphaned. The political symphonies of the two were similar.