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Compare and contrast Max Weber and Emile Durkheim contribute to the development of sociology
Compare and contrast Max Weber and Emile Durkheim contribute to the development of sociology
Weber and Durkheim similarities and differences
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Furthermore, Weber and Durkheim both agree on the use of statistics, however, the interpretation of those statistics is entirely different. Weber argues that, “Statistical uniformities constitute understandable types of action, and thus constitute sociological generalizations, only when they can be regarded as manifestations of the understandable subjective meaning of a course of social action.” (Weber, Basic Sociological Terms, 3). Weber sees statistical data as deriving from individual actions that are grouped together. These groups can form generalizations, which then transform into ideal types that can be compared and used to understand subjective meaningful actions that occurred within those statistics. Durkheim, as seen in ‘Suicide’, uses statistics to analyze social facts (Durkheim, Suicide, …show more content…
32-52). He studied the statistical data of suicides within different communities and concluded that a certain number of suicides within every community is inevitable, and a natural part of all societies. He states, “Each society is predisposed to contribute a definite quota of voluntary deaths. This predisposition may therefore be the subject of a special study belonging to sociology. This is the study we are going to undertake.” (Durkheim, Suicide, 35). He considered suicide to be a sui generis concept and deems it a sociological concept due to its prevalence in all communities. There is also a level of predictability in the suicide rates that hints at the fact that there is an underlying social cause that determines the number of suicides that will take place within different communities. He also goes on to say that he will not be discussing or analyzing “individual suicides”, but will rather examine “those on which the definite fact that we have called the social suicide-rate depends” (Durkheim, Suicide, 35).
According to Durkheim, studying individual reasons for an action is psychology’s concern, not sociology (Durkheim, Suicide, 35). Weber would argue that the individuals are what make up a society, and thus, they should be the ones to be studied since their meaningful social actions are the ones that impact the society as a whole. Weber states, “Action in the sense of subjectively understandable orientation of behavior exists only as the behavior of one or more individual human beings” (Weber, Basic Sociological Terms, 3). In the case of suicide, Weber would argue that we must take the generalities within Durkheim’s theory into consideration, but then go beyond that. It would be more thorough to analyze the individual cases within different societies to derive a clear understanding of the motives people have behind the act of suicide. Weber would also utilize his concept of verstehen, to gain an explanatory understanding of the subjective
motivations.
Despite having different views on the topic, each essay holds an alike form to one another. Didion tires to evoke emotion from the audience by putting statistical facts of deaths that
Durkheim’s concept of social integration refers to social groups with well-defined values, traditions, norms, and goals. These groups will differ in the degree to which individuals are part of the collective body, also to the extent to which the group is emphasized over the individual, and lastly the level to which the group is unified versus fragmented. Durkheim believed that two types of suicide, Egoistic and Altruistic, could stem from social integration. Egoistic suicide resulted from too little social integration. Those people who were not sufficiently bound to a social group would be left with little or no social support in times of crisis. This caused them to commit suicide more often. An example Durkheim discovered was that of unmarried people, especially males, who, with less to connect them to stable social groups, committed suicide at higher rates than married people. Altruistic suicide is a result of too much integration. It occurs at the opposite end of the social integration scale as egoistic suicide. Self sacrifice appears to be the driving force, where people are so involved with a social group that they lose sight of themselves and become more willing to take one for the team, even if this causes them to die. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occur to soldiers during times of war. Religious cults have also been a major source of altruistic suicide.
Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist born in 1858, was a man on the leading edge of sociology in his time, but do his theories still hold up today? In 1897, he studied the French public records regarding suicides, and made some interesting connections. He found that people with a weaker connection to their community or family were more likely to commit suicide then those who had stronger ties in their social group. For instance, those who were married were less likely to end their lives than those who were single. A surprising example however would be that the wealthy had a much higher rate of suicide then the poor. Durkheim attributed this to the isolated and centric nature of wealthy members
According to Durkheim, two types of suicide arise from the different levels social integration. One cause of suicide is extremely low social integration, which is referred to as egoistic suicide. Durkheim argues that this is the case because others give the individual’s life meaning, so without this support from the group the person may feel hopeless (Conley 188). The other type of suicide, altruistic suicide, reflects the opposite situation: when an individual is too socially integrated (Conley 189). This type of suicide occurs when members of a group or community become so totally engrossed by the group tha...
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.
In 1897, Emile Durkheim (1997) showed that the suicide – perhaps the most personal of all decisions – could be analysed through the conceptual lenses of sociology.
Functionalism is a social science theory which identifies; all aspects within a society have meaning (Britannica Academic, 2016.) Its main focus being on how different factors of society function to maintain the social equilibrium (Germov, 2014.) Between the years 1921-1968 theorist Max Webber paved the way for Weberianism in relation to health sociology. He believed that people can influence their own lives and alter the society they live in (Germov, 2014). This essay will delve into these theories by comparing and contrasting functionalism and weberianism. This essay will highlight how these theories have shaped the health care system in the 20th century.
Some flaws exist in Durkheim’s thought. One minor flaw is that Durkheim failed to collect his own data, using outside sources collected by others. Furthermore, Durkheim has been criticized for his failure to take individual into account properly. This can be seen in a flaw in his legendary sociological work, Suicide. Many have criticized Durkheim for trying to explain micro events using macro statistics; however, Van Poppel and Day (1996) state that this isn’t a fallacy, but rather an empirical mistake as how suicides were described by Protestants and Catholics were described differently, which Durkheim failed to account
Durkheim Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917), believed individuals are determined by the society they live in because they share a moral reality that we have been socialised to internalise through social facts. Social facts according to Drukhiem are the “manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him [or her].” Social facts are external to the individual, they bind societies together because they have an emotional and moral hold on people, and are why we feel shame or guilt when we break societal convention. Durkheim was concerned with maintaining 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.
Emile Durkheim is a French sociologist who investigated suicide and the connection to society using the functionalist perspective. He talks about solidarity being a component of suicide. The less people that an individual has a connection to the more likely they are to consider taking their own life. Belonging to a social group can increase the sense of belonging that people have in their everyday life. Social stratification is a factor of whether someone feels like they belong in a group or not.
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.
When Durkheim conducted his research on suicide he did it with the intention of establishing Sociology as a science and as a result almost validate the worth and power of sociology. Before Durkheim’s study, suicide was considered only as the act of an individual however Durkheim’s theory was that suicide tied in with social structures and even though he believed that suicide is ‘the most personal act anyone can undertake’ (Durkheim, 1897), he also believed it was accredited to social causes.
A Study of Suicide: An overview of the famous work by Emile Durkheim, Ashley Crossman, 2009, http://sociology.about.com/od/Works/a/Suicide.htm, 25/12/2013
Durkheim was a functionalist, and theorised that a holistic social narrative could be identified which would explain individual behaviour. He argued that, whilst society was made up of its members, it was greater than the sum of its parts, and was an external pressure that determined the behaviour of the individuals within it. At that time, suicide rates in Europe were rising, and so the causes of suicide were on the agenda. Since suicide is seen as an intrinsically personal and individual action, establishing it as having societal causes would be a strong defence for Durkheim’s functionalist perspective. Durkheim used the comparative method to study the official suicide rates of various European countries. While he was not the first to notice the patterns and proportional changes of suicide rates between different groups in European societies, it was this fact that was the foundation of his theory – why did some groups consistently have much higher rates than others? This supports the idea that it was the external pressures placed on certain groups within society that induced higher rates of suicide, and is the basis of Durkheim’s work.
Comparing Weber's and Durkheim's Methodological Contributions to Sociology This essay will be examining the methodological contributions both Durkheim and Weber have provided to sociology. It will briefly observe what Positivists are and how their methodologies influence and affect their research. It will also consider what interpretative sociology is, and why their type of methodology is used when carrying out research. It will analyse both Durkheim's study of Suicide and also Webers study of The Protestant work ethic, and hopefully establish how each methodology was used for each particular piece of research, and why. Emile Durkhiem, in sociology terminology is considered to be a Functionalist, in addition to also being a Positivist, however, strictly speaking, Durkheim was not a Positivist.