Classical Social Theory - Assignment Example

Sociology of Question The future society refers to the union of all human beings through modern environments and powerful experiences that cut across geographical and ethnic boundaries, nationality and class (Holt, 2014). Understanding the future society has proven to be a daunting task for social theorists. Max Weber and Karl Marx develop an answer to the future society through two differing approaches. Marx applied his philosophical principles to the understanding of the future society. His dialectical method leans on the objectively existing contradictions to changes in history. He was able to connect the contradictions to analyzing the future society, which helped him a great deal in perceiving some contradictions between the capitalist labor and human nature – Alienation (Holt, 2014). Marx proposed four ways of alienation. First was the alienation of the worker from his labor product. Other people appropriate the product, and the worker loses control over its destiny. Second was the alienation of the worker from the production act. Work, therefore, is an alien activity forced on the worker and includes bidding as forced labor. Third was the alienation of the worker from his species being or human nature. As already mentioned, the first two modes of alienation deprive the worker’s productive activity of human qualities that distinguish it from animal activity, thus defining human nature. Last was the alienation of the worker from other men. Marx concluded that the worker’s wretchedness is inversely proportional to his power of production, and the outcome of competition is the amassing of capital in the hands of a few people, thereby restoring monopoly in a worse form (Holt, 2014). Workers, therefore, become factors in capital operation, and their activities guided by profitability requirements rather than personal human needs Marx believed that in the capitalist labor market, labor could be creative no more but alienated from human nature. Workers work for their needs no more but the capitalists. Furthermore, they pay for products that they produce for daily maintenance. Marx argued that alienation was triggered by the capitalist economic system, which leads to the dialectical view that a capitalist society is contradictory too. From this dialectical perspective, contradictions in the society can best be understood as an inherent nature of social development (Holt, 2014). Marx’s vision of a future society revolved around several factors. Firstly, he had the vision of there being no property in land, and that income from land could be used to benefit everyone. He also foresaw an increase in income tax and the elimination of inheritance rights. Moreover, Marx predicted that in the future society, emigrants and rebels would have their property confiscated. There would also be a centralized system of transport and communication, and the State would be in charge of the same. The State would also have a central bank through which all credit would be controlled, and the bank would enjoy excessive monopoly. State factories and investments would also be expanded, and agriculture improved through boosting soil fertility and cultivating idle land. Agriculture and manufacturing industries would be merged. Furthermore, everyone would be liable to work. There would also be the need to shorten the gap between towns and the country through equal population distribution. Finally, all children would benefit from state-funded education and child labor would be no more (Holt, 2014). Rationalization of social actions was the basis of Weber’s concept of the social process. He emphasized that historical changes and social structures should be viewed as complex patterns projecting subjective meanings of people’s acts because of his belief that causal explanations of the social process rely on people’s understanding of their actions in society. It refers to a number of relevant processes through which aspects of human action are dependent on measurement, calculation, and control (Gane, 2005). Rationalization, just like alienation, implies the process of estranging a person from the family, community and church, and subordinating him to economic, political, and legal regulation in the school, factory, and State. Weber claimed that many institutional developments are essential for the emergence of capitalism in the future society. To begin with, the city should look different from rural areas in terms of advanced structural development. In addition, there ought to be a distinction between productive enterprises and individual households. There would also be laws in place regulating several aspects of life, including the distinction of personal and corporate property. He also foresaw a bureaucratic state in which all state activities are monitored within an organized territory under the leadership of one person to ensure there is a unified framework for the advancement of capitalism and commerce. Moreover, the future society would practice double entry bookkeeping that enables businesses to maintain accurate balances, thereby easing rational calculation of all outflows and inflows for proper analysis of loss and profit (Gane, 2005). Weber, however, rejected Marx’s ten-point program since Marx’s views on future society could mislead people; Marx’s views, after all, are extremely bureaucratic hence cannot apply to modernity. Question 2 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is Max Weber’s study of how the origin of modern capitalism and the ethics of Protestantism relate. He argues that religious ideas held by groups like the Calvinists had a major role to play in the creation of the capitalistic spirit (Weber, 2012). At the onset, he makes an observation on the correlation between involvement in business and being a Protestant, and makes a declaration of his intent to dig deeper into religion as a likely cause of modern economic conditions. Weber argues that modern capitalistic spirit sees as virtuous the act of pursuing profit, and profit itself as an end. His aim is to ascertain the origin of this spirit. Therefore, he looks up to Protestantism for the potential explanation (Weber, 2012). With Protestantism comes the concept of a worldly “calling,” hence giving a religious character to worldly activity. Though important, this fact alone is not enough to explain the urge to pursue profit. Calvinism, a branch of Protestantism, offers no explanation. Predestination is the central belief of Calvinists – God has made the determination of who will be condemned and who will be saved. Through the development of Calvinism, there arose the need for clues to determine whether one was saved, and Calvinists turned to their achievements in worldly activity in search for the clues. Consequently, they valued material success and profit as indications of God’s favor. On the other hand, religious groups like Methodists, Pietists, and Baptists showed similar attitudes on a lesser degree. According to Weber, the new attitude made the traditional economic system collapse, giving room for modern capitalism. Upon the emergence of capitalism, however, the Protestant values became of no worth, and their ethic took a different turn of life. The current spirit of capitalism in which most of the world is entangled is due to the useful role of capitalism in modern economic activity. Throughout the book, Weber stresses that his account is not complete. He is not claiming that Protestantism caused the spirit of capitalism, but rather a contributing factor. In addition, he accepts the fact that capitalism influenced the growth of religious ideas. Weber’s account is merely a drop in the ocean of the story. Weber constantly reminds readers of his limitations (Weber, 2012). Among Weber’s methodological contributions was the development of ideal types – concepts or abstractions that approximate a pure or average type. According to Weber, these concepts capture an activity’s essence or the form of thought or action (i.e. crystalizing their essence to illustrate the thought or action’s significance for human socialization. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism has such ideal types as worldly asceticism, spirit of capitalism, rationalization, and the calling (Weber, 2012). No particular group or individual always adopted every aspect of the four forms of action or thought, but the ideal types give an approximation of the important forms, which were significant for daily actions of people and historical occurrences and developments. Weber did not mean ideal types are bad or good, or better than similar concepts or types. Neither did he attach negative or positive judgments to them. Instead, the ideal types are methodological devices that typify significant and important forms of action and thought – they are abstractions, which stress the core elements of a phenomenon, and they give guidance for constructing hypotheses. In conclusion, Marx’s concept of alienation and Weber’s notion of dehumanizing consequences of rationalization are similar but have different visions of future society. In particular, a close relationship exists between the concepts of rationalization and alienation. Like alienation, rationalization denotes the estrangement of individuals from the community, church, and family, and his subordination to economic, political, and legal regulation in the school, factory, and state. Weber, however, rejected Marx’s ten-point program since Marx’s views on future society could mislead people; Marx’s views, after all, are extremely bureaucratic hence cannot apply to modernity. Weber’s approach links the origin of certain Protestant religions to the spirit of capitalism. The ideal-types method, the historical influence of ideas and the relationship between the study of sociology and history are outstand in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism based on Weber’s methodology. References Gane, N. (2005). Max Weber and Postmodern Theory: Rationalization Versus Re- enchantment. London: Palgrave Holt, J.P. (2014). The Social Thought of Karl Marx (Social Thinkers Series). New York: Sage Publications,Inc. Weber, M. (2012). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Read More