COMPARISON BETWEEN WEBER, DURKHEIM AND MARX

COMPARISON BETWEEN WEBER, DURKHEIM AND MARX
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc311667154 \h 3ESSAY PAGEREF _Toc311667155 \h 4Weber`s Understanding of Social Action PAGEREF _Toc311667156 \h 4Durkheim`s Notion of Social Fact PAGEREF _Toc311667157 \h 6Marx`s Conception of Historical Materialism PAGEREF _Toc311667158 \h 8Comparison between Weber, Durkheim and Marx PAGEREF _Toc311667159 \h 10CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc311667160 \h 12REFERENCES PAGEREF _Toc311667161 \h 14
INTRODUCTION
Many people understand the term Sociology as the study which focuses on how individuals related to one another and how they reside in their different environments. Sociology however refers to the science which makes an effort of understanding social action in order to arrive at an explanation of why it exists and how it affects people (Selef, 1997: p.15). Being social refers to the interaction that takes place between people in any given community and tends to incorporate ethnical, cultural as well as economic aspects. Action on the other hand is the human behavior to which the acting person gives subjective meaning (Neckerman, 2004: p.45). The history of social action has been in existence since early 18th Century and is not considered a foreign concept in this day and age. Social action can be defined as a conscious effort by members of a community directed at influencing the main policies and social condition (Hadden, 1997: p.28). In other words social action are efforts focused on bringing about change or preventing it in current situations and social practices via persuasion, pressure, propaganda or education on behalf of goals believed by social scientists to be socially desirable (Morrison, 2006: p.78).
Under the field of sociology there are a number of approaches that are considered under the study of social relationships that tend to affect human growth and relationships for instance social facts (Hughes, Martin & Sharrock, 2003: p.101). Social facts refer to expectations or ideas that do not emerge from personal responses as well as preferences but emerge from a given social community that tends to socialize each of its members (Shepard, 2005: p.40). Social facts are generally external to every living individual and are considered conditioning of behavior and thinking.
ESSAY
Historical Materialism is also a concept found under sociological studies and refers to an application of Marxist science to historical development (Hughes, et al., 2003: p.105). In simpler terms it is the notion or belief that a society`s economic framework be it communism or capitalism determines the nature of its cultural as well as social structure (Neckerman, 2004: p.46). Historical Materialism is believed to determine the economy of a given community. There have been a number of sociologists and professors in the recent past who have tried to understand social action and sociology as a whole for instance Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx, all of whom have come up with different theories in an effort of not only understanding how a society works under a given environment but also help others to understand their attitudes and behaviors in such environments.
Weber`s Understanding of Social Action
Born in the year 1864 Max Weber is viewed as the father of sociology as he perceived sociology as being an extension to social action where he mostly focused on specific social contexts (Hadden, 1997: p.33). In the course of his sociological studies Weber decided to concentrate on action in a social situation and argued that society is not a structure but rather is constituted interrelated actions (Morrison, 2006: p.79). He was particularly more interested in motivation and behavior of individuals unlike his fellow sociologists like Durkheim and Karl Marx who perceived the society to be an object in itself. His interest was in the objective as well as the subjective where he accepted and suggested the fact that class emerges from the relationship to means of production despite the fact that it also requires more than just that considering the fact that it is rather complicated analysis of market situation, ownership of wealth, status and finally power (Shepard, 2005: p.41).
Weber believes that social action is characterized by the relationship of others with the action. This means that not unless a social action possesses a relationship with the past, present or future behavior of others, it is not considered as such. To him social action should be inclusive of not only failures to act but also bear acquiescence which may be oriented to the past, present or future actions of others (Selef, 1997: p.16). In order for a social action to be considered truly social it needs to lean towards the behavior of other living things. Weber also defines social action as having the characteristic of being a result of cooperation as well as struggle between people and members of a given society (Hughes, et al., 2003: p.106). He argues that mere contact with human beings is not considered to be social action but the struggle and/or cooperation between a number of people is. For one to be able to explain an action they must interpret it subjectively in terms of its intended meaning (Neckerman, 2004: p.47). This means that one`s action needs to be explained in terms of consequences of their purpose rather than in terms of the action`s actual effects (Hadden, 1997: p.36). Weber thus suggests that it is important that an action is defined as per the terms of its sociological analysis and meaningfulness which should in turn follow through the identification of meaning that the actions have for actors (Morrison, 2006: p.80).
There are 4 main classifications of social action according to Weber and these include Evaluative actions, Rational actions, Traditional actions and Emotional actions. Evaluative actions refer to those which are usually determined by expectations regarding property of objects in addition to the behavior of others that the person comes across in his or her environment (Shepard, 2005: p.42). Rational actions also known as value actions on the other hand are actions that are generally determined by the conscious belief in the value not as a means towards any specified goal but directed towards some religious, political or some ethical form of behavior irrespective of the probabilities of the final success (Selef, 1997: p.17). Weber went on to define traditional actions as those dependent upon the unthinking, automatic behavior or habit in response to daily stimuli while Emotional or affectual actions as those determined by the person`s emotions, attachments or feelings (Hughes, et al., 2003: p.110).
Durkheim`s Notion of Social Fact
Born in the year 1858, Emile Durkheim was regarded as the first French academic sociologist and his life was generally dominated by his academic career (Neckerman, 2004: p.48). The main driving force in Durkheim`s overall doctrine and especially his works is the fact that he was rather insistent on the study of society which he believed must shun reductionism (Hadden, 1997: p.40). He also paid most of his attention to the social structural determinants of human beings` social challenges thus coming up with his definition of social facts. Social happenings are considered to be social facts that are the subject matter of sociology in as far as Durkheim is concerned. He defines social facts as happenings that are part of the society rather than individual members of a society (Morrison, 2006: p.81). Durkheim`s idea of social facts tends to separate psychology from philosophy as he argues that they are not attached to any particular person and therefore can be studied empirically.
Durkheim also suggested that the main cause of a social fact requires sorting amongst those before it as compared to looking for it among the states of the individual consciousness (Shepard, 2005: p.43). People are born into already existing and established social systems that incorporate patterns of norms, values and beliefs which bring about major influence on the person. Social types of thinking and acting external to the person are said to be endued with a forceful yet compelling power which leads them to become habitual where they are imposed upon the person (Selef, 1997: p.18). As it is generally known each action tends to have an equal and opposite reaction and the most attempts to be independent of social factors are not easily accomplished leading to consequences that may invalidate the particular action taken by an individual. Thus Durkheim argues that the main aspect of social facts is the analysis of predispositions, traditions and beliefs of social group considered collectively (Hughes, et al., 2003: p.112). He believes social facts to be self existent objects rather that just notions and therefore tend to contain a notion of reality that can be observed. Unlike Max Weber who focused more on what motivates the behavior of individuals Durkheim paid attention to the study of social facts which are occurrences that have an existence in and of themselves, not bound to the behavior of people (Neckerman, 2004: p.49).
Durkheim`s focus on the rate at which specific occurrences took place as compared to the incidence gave him an additional advantage which allowed him to take part in comparative analysis of a number of frameworks. According to him one of the key elements of integration within a given society is the extent to which numerous members of the society relate with one another (Morrison, 2006: p.82). Taking part in rituals is more likely to draw members of a religious group into similar activities that tend to bind them together thus providing an environment that effectively insulates its members from frustrating experiences (Hadden, 1997: p.42). The social environment is considered to be a determining factor in collective evolution and is thus of great importance. Having been formed by neighboring societies the external social environment is able to have some influence through the mediation of the internal social environment (Shepard, 2005: p.44). Durkheim argues that among the transformations brought about by the environment those in harmony with the existing state of a given society are considered more useful as the environment is also the essential condi...