Society is defined as people living together within a community that shares customs. Many pioneers of sociology have conducted research on different area of this phenomena, however this paper will focus solely on the view of four sociologists namely; Gerhard Lenski, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. We begin by reviewing the works of Lenski, where his focus was on how society have change over the years with technology being the main reason Sociocultural evolution. He explains with the introduction or adoption of new technology caused society entire way of life to changes and at a rapid pace. Lenski further went on to discuss into details the different societies and as there are categorised based on their technology. The first type is Hunting and gathering society, this is where simple tools such as; knife made of stone, spears, arrows, etc. are used in the acquiring or resources. Food are usually not sufficient to supply large number of population, therefor people live in small groups. Age and gender plays a huge role in this society as adult males get the hard work done (Hunting), adult females do the gathering of vegetation, and the elder and young help as they can. They mainly focus is to survive, and figure how they are going to get the next meal causing them usually to wonder from place to place searching for food. Basically, everyone is equal and they all live the same, except for their spiritual leader who is highly respected but still
According to Indergraard (2007), industrialization is “the process by which an economy shifts from an agricultural to a manufacturing base during a period of sustained change and growth, eventually creating a higher standard of living”. Within sociology, the three founding fathers, particularly Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim, were interested in studying what the causes of industrialization and the consequences of it on the development of society. This essay will compare the ways in which Marx and Durkheim shared similar ideas about industrialisation within society as well as contrast the aspects of their theories which have different ideological roots and conclusions. The essay with then go on to conclude that whilst there were some key differences
Andre Abi Haidar PSPA 210 INTRODUCTION It is always difficult to write about and discuss Karl Marx, or more importantly the applications of Marx’s theories, due to the fact that he inspired and gave rise to many movements and revolutionaries, not all of which follow his theories to the point. Although Marx tends to be equated with Communism, it might not seem righteous to blame him for whatever shortcomings occurred when his theories were put to the test; Marx passed away well before the revolution in Russia, and he played no role in the emergence of the totalitarian regime at the time. When discussing Marx, however, Vladimir Lenin is one of the biggest highlights when it comes to studying the outcomes of Marx’s theories.
While Durkheim calls modern society a disconnective collectiveness conscience, because everyone depends on themselves. Durkheim called the progress from traditional to modern society a “natural evolutionary progression.” He
The world is ever changing through technological advances, innovative ideas and a need to further advance our society. Innovation has become an essential part of society. Individual viewpoints have been provided to understand concepts leading to improvement however the most prevailing viewpoints being that of Gerhard Lenski, Leslie White, and Alvin Toffler. To get a predominant cognizance of these thoughts, it is fundamental to take a look at and get these three viewpoints and the crucial part they play in depicting the improvement for development. Gerhard Lenski specified that technological progress is the motivation behind civilization evolving throughout history.
In this Essay I will compare and contrast two major theoretical perspectives in Sociology. The Functionalist theory of Emile Durkheim and the Marxist theory of Karl Marx (Giddens, 2009, p. 72) Sociology is the scientific study of social life. It describes and analyses social behaviour. It seeks to discover how human society has come to be the way it is, and reveal the social forces that shape people’s lives.
This article will compare the point of view of Gerhard Lenski, Leslie White and Alvin Toffler with respect to the evolution of technology. Gerhard Lenski’s perspective on the evolution of technology Sociologist Gerhard Lenski maintained that technological process has been the driving force in the evolution of human civilization; focusing on the societal and cultural basics of society. He viewed human society as something of a process of change involving a society’s level of modernization, communication, and scientific advances. In Gerhard Lenski’s point of view, it is a society 's level of technology that is critical for its survival.
Socioeconomic status is frequently considered to be a potential confounder or a risk factor for overweight and obesity in health studies. Although there is general agreement that SES is a multidimensional construct, scholars tend to include only one socioeconomic status component in their predictive models and few researches have provided an explicit theoretical and methodological rationale for the choice of indicators (Ball et al., 2002). Socioeconomic status is a measure of an individual’s position within society that is determined by the access to collectively desired resources (Oakes and Rossi, 2003). The SES concept has emerged from the class approach to social structure analysis, primarily developed by Karl Marx and Max Weber, and, consequently, is widely used as a synonym to “social position”, “socioeconomic position” or “social class” (Liberato et al., 1988). From Marx’s perspective, social class is identified as a group of people sharing common relations to the means of production that support their wellbeing (Marx, 1981).
INTRODUCTION This essay will discuss the concept of one of the greatest economists, a philosopher, a journalist, a historian, also known and believed to be one of the founding fathers of sociology. Karl Marx, made a contribution to sociology in the 19th century. He developed a sociological theory that stated that human societies progress through a struggle between two distinct classes, namely; the bourgeoise and proletariat. It claims that society is in conflict between the rich who own and control everything, and the poor who must work for the rich and be rewarded very little for their hard work. The theory is known as the conflict theory or the Marxist theory or Marxism, which is more concerned about the class struggle within the society,
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Max Weber (1864-1920) are widely considered as two of the “founding fathers” of sociology. They are important for their contribution to understanding society. A great deal of their contributions have had a lasting impact into how sociological studies are conducted. The difference between these two sociologist is their theoretical perspectives. Unlike Weber who belonged to the interpretive perspective, Durkheim belonged to the functionalist perspective.
Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx both had interesting theories about societies. Durkheim and Marx found it important to understand society integration. Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx have played profound roles in the understanding of Sociological theory. Sociological theory can be used to explain many things including how society is held together. Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx had different ideas on what held society together but in ways their ideas were also similar.
Capitalism is understood to be the “economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” In modern society, capitalism has become the dominant economic system and has become so integrated that it has resulted in a change in the relationships individuals have with other members of society and the materials within society. As a society, we have become alienated from other members of society and the materials that have become necessary to regulate ourselves within it, often materials that we ourselves, play a role in producing. Capitalism has resulted in a re-organization of societies, a more specialized and highly segmented division of labour one which maintains the status quo in society by alienating the individual. Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim theorize on how power is embodied within society and how it affects the individuals of society.
Karl Marx and Max Weber both agreed that capitalism generates alienation in modern societies, but the cause for it were both different. For Marx it is due to economic inequality in where the capitalist thinks that the workers worth nothing more than a source of labour, that can be employed and dismissed at will. This causes the workers to be dehumanised by their jobs (in the past, routine factory work and in the present-day, managing demands on a computer), which leads to the workers finding slight satisfaction and feeling incapable of improving their situation. It was noted by Marx four methods on how capitalism alienates workers. The first, is alienation from the function of working.
For instance, is Industrial Capitalism as essence of rationality. Weber’s great thesis are Protestantism and Capitalism Emphasized about legal-rational legitimacy and charismatic legitimacy. He agreed with Marx that economic activity is central in modern industrialized society but emphasizes politics as most important factor. Glerhard Lenski however, was a sociologist known for his donation to the human science of religion, social imbalance between individuals, and presenting the environmental developmental hypothesis. As opposed to the other sociologist, Mr. lenski viewed society and the social structure from a different perspective.
Question 1. What do you make of Karl Marx’s contributions to sociology? Answer: It would take volumes to describe how important Karl Marx’s work is in sociology. His work is important in the 21st century because his concepts and ideas are the only genuine seeds for a better society.
Max Weber and Emile Durkheim are two of the three founding fathers of sociology, who are both famous for their scientific methods in their approach towards sociology. They both wanted their methodological approaches to be more and more organized and scientific, however because of the difference in their views on the idea of scientific, Durkheim’s approach tends to be more scientific than Weber’s. This is because Weber does not wish to approach sociology in the manner scientists approached the natural sciences and believes more in interpretive analysis, than observational analysis. In this paper, I will compare and contrast the methodological approaches of Weber and Durkheim and discuss how Weber’s approach is more historical and Durkheim’s