Essay on Emile Durkheim and Max Weber Comparison

Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber are all important characters to be studied in the field of Sociology. Each one of these Sociological theorists, help in the separation of Sociology into its own field of study. The works of these three theorists is very complex and can be considered hard to understand but their intentions were not. They have their similarities along with just as many of their differences.

Two names that are repeatedly mentioned in sociological theory are Karl Marx and Max Weber. In some ways these two intellectuals were similar in the way they looked at society. There are also some striking differences. In order to compare and contrast these two individuals it is necessary to look at each of their ideas. Then a comparison of their views can be illustrated followed by examples of how their perspectives differ from each other.

his concept of class, class struggle. With Weber, I will also discuss his central question, his method of

In this essay I am going to address three core sociology theorists; Marx, Weber and Durkheim, they all had different opinions about how society functioned through the different types of relationships. Each theorists had a different perspective about “the social” and how that perspective presented it through society. Marx’s view on “the social” was focused on production relations and how the classes interacted with one another through that type of relationship (Marx 1844). Weber’s view on “the social” was focused on meaningful relationships and he brought the aspect of religion and rank into his view (Weber 1925). Lastly Durkheim’s view on “the social” was focused on the moral relationships and how the individual acts according to society’s setup and social cohesion (Durkheim 1895).

Our backgrounds often dictate where our lives will go. What actions we make in the present and future are a direct result of our past. The culmination of all the events leading up to the moment in time in which all the past experiences, whether it’s heart breaks or joyous achievements make up the present. One should consider what events made them the individual they are in this moment, and how they will evolve over time. Sociological theorists often purpose radical ideas that makes one wonder how anyone could synthesize such notions. The answer to that is simple, their backgrounds. A few good examples of the theorists that were prominently influenced by their backgrounds are Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. These theorists had radical ideas that are clearly because of their unique backgrounds. Our backgrounds are a key factor in the way we live our lives and the things we do, while they do not dictate our actions, they are a major influence.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were full of evolving social and economic ideas. These views of the social structure of urban society came about through the development of ideas taken from the past revolutions. As the Industrial Revolution progressed through out the world, so did the gap between the class structures. The development of a capitalist society was a very favorable goal for the upper class. By using advanced methods of production introduced by the Industrial Revolution, they were able to earn a substantial surplus by ruling the middle class. Thus, maintaining their present class of life, while the middle class was exploited and degraded. At this time in history, social

Classical sociological theorists such as Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Georg Simmel are all considered pioneers in their field because of the innovative ideas and theories that they put forth about the societies and social worlds that they lived in. Weber warned about the increasing bureaucratization of our day to day lives and the isolation that could ensue if we let it run rampant. Durkheim made the extremely personal, impersonal through his study of suicide and spoke about the greater afflictions of the modern world that led societies to a literal breaking point. Simmel looked at the connections between individuals to understand society,

Comte, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber were early thinkers in the development of sociology. Sociology grew out of the social, political, economic, and technological revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Industrial Revolution, in particular, eroded old traditions and necessitated new ways of perceiving and examining the social world. With the success of the natural sciences serving as a model for the social sciences, sociology emerged in Western Europe as a distinct discipline in the mid-1800s.

Max Weber 's analysis of class is similar to Marx 's, but he discusses class in the context of social stratification more generally. Max Weber conceived sociology as a comprehensive science of social action. In his

Max Weber a German sociologist born in 1864. He was primarily concerned with the modern western society. He saw that the behaviour of individuals was increasingly

Their projection of the future is incompatible. Both sociologists talked about modernity, but both predicted the future of religious differently. Weber studied the development and evolution of societies, argues that capitalism and industrialized production have replaced religion as motivation. This is his famous “Iron Cage” metaphor- what had been an expression of religious belief is not a controlling process in and of itself. People are trapped into a system of capitalist production that has taken on a life of its own. Weber called it the “Disenchantment of the world”, as we became less concerned with religion, focused only on the rational and materials world. Durkheim, on the other hand, elucidated the idea of individualism in modern society. Complex and modern societies practice what he called, organic solidarity. High division of labor that causes individuals to take on very

One of the world’s most difficult, but also most important, endeavors is to analyze and interpret humans and their behaviors. How can we understand the complexities of humanity when there are infinite factors involved in the mind of each person? Sociology, the study of human society, aims to accomplish this task. Many intellectuals throughout the years have been essential to the formation of sociology, including Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, Karl Marx, and Émile Durkheim. However, the work of Max Weber, one of the founders of sociology, aligns best with my personal beliefs. Weber was born in Erfurt, Germany in 1864 and was raised during a time when Germany was rapidly changing in response to the industrial revolution. He observed the rise of a new economic system called capitalism, prompting his later theory analyzing its foundations. Weber served in the military, studied law, worked as a professor, and published his ideas. His work laid the foundations of interpretive sociology. Weber took an interesting approach to sociology by focusing on the characteristics and thought processes of the individual rather than large amounts of quantitative data. His sociological approach is based on the belief that each individual’s actions are shaped by their surroundings, rather than a set of universal laws that govern all of humanity. Weber’s convincing argument about the foundations of capitalism and his individualistic approach to sociology align with my sociological beliefs.

Max Weber theory of class is that capitalist and the proletarian meet in a market and come into it in different ways as purchaser of labor power and as seller, as someone able to wait, not compelled to buy or sell merely to survive another day that’s the capitalist and as someone who must sell his services today or starve. Therefore Marx two classes, in Weber view are distinguished essentially by their relation to a market and precisely by their bargaining power. Bargaining power is matter of monopoly or lack of it. Weber then analyses class mainly in terms of “monopoly”. To Max Weber, writing in the early 1900s, Marx’s view was too simple –he agreed that different classes exist but he thought that “Status” or “Social Prestige” was the key factor in deciding which group each one of us belongs to. Where we live, our manner of speech, our schooling, our leisure habits, these and many other factors decide our social class. He thought that the way each person thinks about his/her “Life Chances”- if we feel that we can become a respected and highly valued member of the

Max Weber, born in 1868 in Germany, was the son of a Lawyer and was

Weber was a key defender of methodological antipositivism, contending for the investigation of social activity through interpretive (as opposed to simply empiricist) means, in view of comprehension the reason and implying that people connect to their own behavior. Weber 's primary educated concern was understanding the procedures ofrationalisation, secularization, and "embitterment" that he connected with the ascent of private enterprise and innovation, and which he saw as the aftereffect of another mindset about the world.