The Multicultural and Classic Readings - Essay Example

The myth of the middle class is based upon the concept that as consumers they can own more than the lower classes, but in essence Marxian economics dictates a plutocratic system in which those who control the production write the rules that the workers must follow. The characteristic of this relationship is more in accordance with master and slave as a result of the unequal distribution of power. With the factory and retail establishments replacing the independent proprietor as the primary means of employment, the emergency that exists is one of increasing tension between the owner and the worker.

This tension has been tempered by the rise of the consumer class that allows the worker class to establish false divisions among itself. 3. Emile Durkheim used a functionalist approach to sociology that focused on a cultural experience that he saw as constructed from a series of interdependent elements. These elements of society that most consistently play a part in defining the social order are the institutions and the process in which they shape and form cultural development. When Durkheim writes that "It is not realized that there can be no sociology unless societies exist and that societies cannot exist if there are only individuals" this is the perfect representation of a macro-sociological approach that begins studying society from the top to the bottom rather than beginning with the individual (Lemert 73).

Durkheim's insistence that social facts are external to the individual is an indication that sociologists need to identify with a large degree of clarity the area of sociology that is intended for study. The larger social arena is given far greatest importance than how individuals react within that arena. In essence, Durkheim consistently argues that sociology should focus on social movements rather than the psychology of any individual act. 4. W.E.B Dubois coined the term "double consciousness" to describe the unique perspective that African-Americans bring to the concept of establishing their identity in America.

Unlike ethnic groups that immigrated to America voluntarily, the descendants of a slave race have been faced with the difficult task of reconciling their African identity with an American identity enforced upon them through assimilation against their will. The primary differentiation in this idea of double consciousness placed DuBois in opposition to black leaders who too quickly accommodated themselves to the expectations of the prevailing white power hierarchy. The sociological lens is a term used to describe the necessity of the ability to study any social group through the perspective of that group rather than imposing one's own outsider perspective upon the group.