The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class - Essay Example

Max Weber and Emile Durkheim both left a substantial theoretical heritage in sociology. In their articles, Status, Party" (1922) by Max Weberand "The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class" (1912) by Emile Durkheim, the scientists look at the society from different sides and from the different levels of generalization. Weber is dividing the whole society into its integral parts, while Durkheim studies the religious prerequisites for the formation of a class, as of a natural component of the society. In his work "Class, Status, Party", Max Weber formulates a classical three-component theory of stratification, with class, status and party (or politics) as conceptually distinct elements. In basic words, social class is based on economically determined relationship to the market (owner, employee etc.) Status is based on non-economical qualities like honor, prestige and religion. Party refers to factors having to do with affiliations in the political domain. All communities are arranged in a manner that goods, both tangible and intangible, are distributed. Such a distribution is always unequal and necessarily involves power, which is another key word in Weber's terminology. ''Classes, status groups and parties are phenomena of the distribution of power within a community'' (Weber 127). Status groups make up the social order, classes make up the economic order, and parties form the political order. Each order affects and is affected by the other. Power may rest on a variety of bases, and can be of differing types. Power is not the only basis of social honor, and social honor, or prestige, may be the basis of economic power. Class is defined in terms of market situation. A class exists when a number of people have in common a specific casual component of their life chances in the following sense: this component is represented exclusively by economic interests in the possession of goods and opportunities for income under conditions of the commodity or labor markets. When market conditions prevail (e.g., capitalism), property and lack of property are the basic categories of all class situations. A class in and of itself does not constitute a group. ''The degree in which social action and possibly associations emerge from the mass behavior of the members of a class is linked to general cultural conditions, especially those of an intellectual sort'' (Weber 129). ''If classes as such are not groups, class situations emerge only on the basis of social action.'' Unlike classes, status groups do have a quality of groups. They are determined by the distribution of social honor. A specific style of life is shared by a status group, and the group itself is defined by those with whom one has social intercourse. Economic elements can be a sort of honor; however, similar class position does not necessitate similar status groups (see old money's contempt for the nouveau riche). People from different economic classes may be members of the same status group, if they share the same specific style of life. The way in which social honor is distributed in the community is called the status order. Criteria for entry into a status group may take forms such as the sharing of kinship groups or certain levels of education. The most extreme of a status system with a high level of closure (that is, strong restriction of mobility between statuses) is a caste system. There, status distinctions are guaranteed not only by law and convention, but also by religious sanctions. Status groups can sometimes be equal to class, sometimes be broader, sometimes more restrictive, and sometimes bear no relation to class. In most cases, status situation is the apparent dimension of stratification: ''stratification by status goes hand in hand with a monopolization of ideal and material goods or opportunities'' (Weber 135). Class situation can take precedence over status situation, however. ''When the bases of the acquisition and distribution of goods are relatively stable, stratification by status is favored'' (Weber 135). Technological and economic changes threaten stratification by status, and ''push class situation to the foreground.... Every slowing down of the change in economic stratification leads, in due course, to the growth or status structures and makes for a resuscitation of the important role of social honor'' (Weber 130). ''Parties reside in the sphere of power'' (Weber 138). ''Parties are... only possible within groups that have an associational character, that is, some rational order and a staff of persons'' (138). Parties aim for social power, the ability to influence the actions of others. Parties may represent class or status interests, or neither. They usually represent a mix. ''The structure of parties differs in a basic way according to the kind of social action which they struggle to influence.... They differ according to whether or not the community is stratified by class or status. Above all else, they vary according to the structure of domination'' (Weber 138-139). In his work, "The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class", Emile Durkheim looks at the more primitive society, at the developing social grouping. He argues that even the most basic social ideas as time, space and God can be seen as creations of society. Since neither man nor nature have of themselves a sacred character, they must get it from another source. The source is called a totem. This cult got the name of totemism. Thus the totem is before all a symbol, a material expression of something else. It expresses and symbolizes two different sorts of things. In the first place, it is the outward and visible form of what we have called the totemic principle or god. But it is also the symbol of the determined society called the clan. It is its flag; it is the sign by which each clan distinguishes itself from the others, the visible mark of its personality, a mark borne by everything which is a part of the clan under any title whatsoever, men, beasts or things. The god of the clan, the totemic principle, can therefore be nothing else than the clan itself, personified and represented to the imagination under the visible form of the animal or vegetable which serves as totem. All members of the tribe gather together to perform periodic totem rituals, it is these rituals that set the rules for social order. It is forbidden to kill or harm the totem animal and it is therefore forbidden to kill or harm one's fellow tribesmen who name themselves after the totem. In the modern Christian religion, Durkheim argues that the moral commandments such as The Golden Rule and The Ten Commandments are primarily social rules. These rules regulate human's behavior toward each other and serve to maintain a sense of social unity. People do not follow these rules out of their fear for heaven or hell but for their desire to be accepted by society. If they participate in the religious rituals they will feel a sense of belonging, whereas those who break the rules and avoid the rituals suffer from social isolation. To Durkheim, God is merely a symbol of society. In reality, a cult is not a simple group of ritual precautions which a man is held to take in certain circumstances; it is a system of diverse rites, festivals and ceremonies which all have this characteristic, that they reappear periodically. They fulfill the need which the believer feels of strengthening and reaffirming, at regular intervals of time, the bond which unites him to the sacred beings upon which he depends (Durkheim 82-93). Also, in the present day just as much as in the past, we see society constantly creating sacred things out of ordinary ones. If it happens to fall in love with a man and if it thinks it has found in him the principle aspirations that move it, as well as the means of satisfying them, this man will be raised above the others and, as it were, deified. Opinion will invest him with a majesty exactly analogous to that protecting the gods. This is what has happened to so many sovereigns in whom their age had faith: if they are not made gods they were at least regarded as direct representatives of the deity. And the fact that it is society alone which is the author of these varieties of apotheosis, is evident since it frequently chances to consecrate men thus who have no right to it from their own merit. The simple deference inspired by men invested with high social functions is not different in nature from religious respect. It is expressed by the same movements: a man keeps at a distance from a high personage: he approaches him only with precautions; in conversing with him, he uses other gestures and language than those used with ordinary mortals (Durkheim 93-98). Emile Durkheim thought of his study of society as dispassionate and scientific. He was deeply interested in the problem of what held complex modern societies together. Religion, he argued, was an expression of social cohesion. Durkheim suggests that there is not one reality but many and that this reality only exists because of the symbolic creations of humans and their rituals. Durkheim uses the example of the totem pole that functions to hold the tribe together. The totemic animal is the original focus of religious activity because it is the emblem for a social group, the clan. The function of religion is to make people willing to put the interests of society ahead of their own desires. Weber looks at the society in general and classifies the forces within it into three fundamental elements: class, status and parties, which are linked together by the concept of power. These theories give illustrations to the different aspects of social structure at different stages of its development. Works cited. 1. Durkheim, mile. "The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class (1912)." Anthropological Theory An Introductory History. Ed. McGee, R. Jon & Warms, Richard. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2003. 2. Weber, Max. "Class, Status, Party (1922)." Anthropological Theory An Introductory History (1912). Ed. McGee, R. Jon & Warms, Richard. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2003. Read More