Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber - Essay Example

Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber Introduction: Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Marx Weber were sociologist who contributed to sociological theory, their theories are today relevant in the society, however critics on their theories have led to some insignificance in their theories, and this paper discusses some of the theories by the scholars and shows their relevance to today society. We focus on the bureaucratization theory, social fact theory, religion, division of labor and specialization and the capitalist theory by Marx. All these theories explain the society we live in today but they also form a basis of determining whether the scholars work is relevant in today’s society. Max Weber: In this section we discuss major contributions of Weber to sociological theory. Weber is well known for his theory of bureaucracies,1 today each and every organization has adopted this structure, Weber highlighted the character of the ideal type of bureaucracy, in his theory he stated that an ideal type is characterized by specialization, hierarchical organization of offices and individuals, explicit rules, impersonality in the organization and finally the reward system is based on merit. From his theory it is still significant in today’s society whereby many organizations have adopted this form of organization, the reason why has been adopted is due to the fact that bureaucracies help in increasing efficiency and effectiveness of an organization. It helps in organizing a large number of people to achieve common goals, helps accomplish several tasks at the same time and finally it helps reduce opposition in an organization. Weber’s theory on bureaucracies is important in understanding the society today, he also highlighted the factors that led to failure of bureaucracies and they include ritualism, ritualism refers to the existence of rules and regulation and people become obsessed to procedure, as a result people over time loose sight of the reasons for these rules and regulations in the organization. Bureaucracies are also faced with the problem of workers making waste, this is the act of wasting time such that tasks are performed to fill the time space provided, bureaucracies are also characterized by protection of the inept, and this involves promoting workers to the levels in which they are less efficient. However despite the many critics of this theory by Weber it still helps to organize the society in such a way those organizations operate in efficient and effective way. Weber also wrote about religion, his work mainly focused on the protestant theory of ethics which explains how religion transforms individuals and their behavior, according to this the protestants they focused on trade and they did not allow involvement into leisure activities, protestants reinvested their profits into their trading activities and this is the reason why they were wealthy. This explains the society we are in today, religion plays a vital role in shaping individual behavior and therefore Weber’s work is still relevant today. The other theory by Weber was on leadership, in his theory he identified three pure forms of leadership, they include charismatic domination, traditional domination and finally legal domination, his theory made a distinction between these forms of domination and they help in explaining the society we live in today. Karl Marx: Marx was a radical sociologist and well known for his theory on capitalism,2 he criticized capitalism and the way it shaped the society, according to him there exist two classes in the society which include the capitalist and the workers, according to him capitalist were the cause of the all the problems the workers were facing, he also stated that for there to be change there has to be a change in society form from a capitalist form into a communist form of society. His theory on capitalism helps in understand society but is not relevant in today’s world, this is because capitalism has become a legitimate way of life in the modern society, it is also evident in his theory that he stated that only two classes were existent in the society which is not true because there are those that are students in the society and cannot be categorized as workers or capitalist.3 Marx predicted a revolution where workers could fight and destroy the capitalist society, socialism would emerged from the ruins of the capitalist society, according to Marx socialist form of society was the ideal form of organizing society where everyone performed the roles he was best suited and all the wealth was owned by the society. However in today’s society people have accepted the capitalist society and his predictions that capitalist would fall never occurred.4 His statement that socialist was the best form of organizing society is also wrong because many societies in the society have tried socialism and has failed example Russia.5 Marx also focused on religion, he stated that religion was a part of society which was aimed at making capitalism legitimate,6 he stated that religion was a way of soothing the wounds inflicted by capitalist; he stated that religion acted as a way of escapism for the workers, and that religion acted at the interest of the capitalist. This is not true in today’s society where religion is a part of the society that plays major roles in society. Marx work therefore helps understand society but is not as relevant in today’s world.7 Emile Durkheim: Durkheim also made major contributions to sociology that is still relevant today. He discussed theories on suicide, religion, division of labor and social facts.8 According to his theory on division of labor he showed how division of labor contributed to increased production in the society, he stated that the modern world would be characterized by complex division of labor. According to Durkheim division of labor led top specialization which led to an increase in efficiency and effectiveness in the society. His theory on division of labor is still relevant today, this is because today the society is characterized by complex division of labor and specialization, therefore his theory on division of labor has helped explain today’s society.9 He also discussed religion as a way by which people in the society are brought together, he stated that religion played a major role in the society and he highlighted four major roles that religion plays and they include, bringing people together and therefore social cohesion, a way of administering discipline in the society, a way of boosting the spirit of individuals in the society and finally brings about happiness and good feelings to the people in the society.10 Finally we discuss his theory of social facts, in this theory he stated that society has parts that are intertwined together, each part depends on the other parts and that each part is as equally important to the survival of the society. He stated that changes in one part of the society would lead to a change in one or more parts in the society. This is evident in today’s society where we experience change over time, example technological advancement will lead to change in almost all part in the society, and therefore his theory is still relevant in today’s society. Discussion: Having discussed some the theories by the scholars we now establish whether all the theorist are equally relevant in today’s society, all the three theorist have discussed religion and its role in society, according to Marx religion act as a way to sooth the wounds inflicted on the capitalist, according to Weber religion will mold individuals in the society and this is evident from his protestant ethic theory, finally Durkheim establishes major roles that religion plays in the society, he identified that religion is ways in which people are brought together and also helps boost the spirit on individuals in the society. Therefore on religion Durkheim and Weber theory are more significant today and therefore Marx criticism on religion in today’s society is not relevant because every individuals in the society accept the capitalist form of society and that religion has a constructive role in the society and not a form of escapism as Marx stated in his theory on capitalism. Weber saw the modern society as being characterized rationality, rationality means maximization of production and reducing the cost, this is true in today’s society, rationality is achieved through the adoption of bureaucratic organization structure where there is division of labor and specialism, in today’s world every organization is rational and has adopted the bureaucratic form of structure. Durkheim also identified the modern society as one with complex division of labor and specialization. 11 Therefore Durkheim and Weber view the modern society as one where division of labor and specialism will lead to higher production in the society. Marx on the other hand identified the modern society as one characterized by the emergence of capitalism, he viewed the modern society as a society that will lead to alienation and oppression, the modern society individuals will also be in a state of false consciousness, however due to the acceptance of the capitalist form of society in the modern world his theory is not as relevant in the society, Marx only criticized the modern world while Weber and Durkheim show a positive change in the society. On politics Weber identified three forms of leadership which include charismatic domination, traditional domination and legal domination, Marx on the other hand did not make distinctions on the various forms of society, he stated that the capitalist dominated upon the workers and they determined what is to be produced, in what quantity and to whom, capitalist controlled the society and they were the leaders in the society. Durkheim in his social fact theory he stated that there are parts in the society that are equally important in the society, therefore leadership is a part of the society that is important for the survival of the society. Therefore both Durkheim and Weber given a better analysis of leadership in today’s society, therefore Marx theory is not relevant in today’s society. All the three scholars discussed the various causes of change in society, according to Durkheim change is a continuous process and a change in one part of the society will lead to changes in one or more parts of the society, he also states that the society is at all times at equilibrium and a change in the society will make changes to the other parts in order to achieve equilibrium, example advancement in technology will lead to changes in the education system where students will use advanced methods of learning. To Marx changes can only be caused through action and that the society is characterized by conflict, Marx states this in his conflict theory whereby he states that the society is at all times characterized by conflict and that this can only end when capitalism is replaced with the socialist form of society. Weber on the other hand states that change in society is caused by individuals and those individuals are agents of change in the society we live in today. Therefore Weber and Durkheim work shows the existence of equilibrium in the society but according to Marx the society is characterized by conflict. In today’s society we can only term Weber’s and Durkheim’s theory as relevant in explaining the society. Conclusion: From the above discussion it is evident that scholars work is not equally important in today’s theory, Marx work simply criticizes all existing parts of the society and argues that they have no constructive role in the society, in today’s society it is evident that all the parts in the society are equally important and play an important role in the survival of the society, if al the parts were not important then individuals would have made changes to the parts and there would be major changes and therefore great difference in traditional and modern society parts. Marx work is not as important as the theories by the Durkheim and Weber. This is evident from the failure of the socialist society as a form of organizing society. References: Douglas Howard (1999) Social Theory, Mc Graw Hill press, New York Emile Durkheim (2000)the elementary form of religious life, Routledge publishers, New York Emile Durkheim website (2008) 1858 to 1917, retrieved on 29th July, available at http://www.emile-durkheim.com/ John Macionis (1998) Sociology,Prentice Hall publishers., New York Jose Casanova (1994)Public religions in the modern world University of Chicago Press, Chicago Karl Marx and et (2002)The communist manifestation, Penguin classic publishers, New York Socio site (2008) Max Weber 1864 to 1920 retrieved on 29th July, available at http://www.sociosite.net/topics/weber.php Stuart Hall, David Held and Kenneth Thompson(1996) Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies, Blackwell Publishing, London The history guide (2008) Karl Marx 1883 to 1883, retrieved on 29th July, available at http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html Ulrich Beck(1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity,Sage Publications, New York Read More