Outline and discuss Durkheim’s ‘The Division of Labour in Society’
Frequently referred to as “the father of sociology”, Emile Durkheim was one of the most influential and high-ranking individuals in contemporary social thought. His work has stimulated great levels of achievement for many years amongst sociologists in terms of studying civil societies, cultural analysis and the sociology of the emotions (Emirbayer and Cohen 2003:1). Durkheim’s perspectives cover a broad range of other issues as well, from social structure to the individual and collective agency, from the state and political public sphere of economic life, and from sociological methodology to moral criticism. The implication of Durkheim’s impact to the sociology of modernity has perhaps never been completely valued throughout the scholarly world as it is today (Emirbayer 2003: 1). The Division of Labour in Society was Emile Durkheim’s first key academic work, a crucial addition to contemporary sociology (Merton 1934: 328) and has been called sociology’s first classic (Tiryakian 1994). His account has been declared to be the forerunner of modern eco-system theory and key arguments of his study have been readopted in that academic tradition (Schnore 1958). As part of his doctoral requirement, it was penned during the 1880s and was subsequently published as a complete work in 1893 while Durkheim was in Bordeaux. The Division of Labour is the first and most notable study that established an approach of thinking about society, which was entirely current and has respectively vital aims.
Firstly, Durkheim desired to make analyses into the nature of the links associating the individual to society and the social bonds which associates individuals to each other. In addition,...
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... M, (2003), Emile Durkheim: sociologist of modernity, Oxford, Blackwell publishing
Fulcher, J, Scott, J, (2011), Sociology, 4th ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press
Hirsch, P, Fiss, P.C, Hoel-Green, A, (2009), A Durkheimian Approach to Globalization, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Jones, R.A, (1986), Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works, California, Sage Publications Inc
Merton, R.K, RKM, (1934), Durkheim’s Division of Labour in Society, American journal of Sociology, [online], 40 (3), 319-328. Available from: http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/Readings/MertonDurkheim.pdf [Accessed 14th October 2013]
Morrison, K, (1995), Marx, Durkheim, Weber: formations of modern social thought, London, Sage Publications Limited
Morrison, K, (1995), Marx, Durkheim, Weber: formations of modern social thought, 2nd ed. London, Sage Publications Limited
Durkheim was concerned with what maintained the cohesion of social structures. He was a functionalist, he believed each aspect of society contributes to society 's stability and functioning as a whole. He theorised that society stayed united for two reasons “mechanical solidarity” and “organic solidarity.” Premodern societies were held together by mechanical solidarity, a type of social order maintained through a minimal division of labour and a common collective consciousness. Such societies permitted a low degree of individual autonomy, Social life was fixed and there was no sense of self. They had retributive legal systems so no individual action or deviance from the common conscience was tolerated. In industrialised modern societies Durkheim says Mechanical solidarity is replaced with organic solidarity. In organic solidarity capitalist societies their is a high division of labour which requires the specialisation of jobs people do, this allows for individual autonomy
On his own, Durkheim contributed a number of elements to the newly founded field. Firstly, in 1893, Durkheim published his first major work, The Division of Labor in Society. (Johnson 51) This book was groundbreaking, in that he introduced the concept of "anomie", which is the breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society. Next, in 1895, he published The Rules of Sociological Method, which was his second major work. This was a manifesto discussing what sociology is and how it ought to be taught and carried out. Then, he published his third major work, Suicide: A Study in Sociology. This was a case study that explored the differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, and argued that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. In 1912, Durkheim published his last major work, The Elementary Forms of The Religious Life. This book analyzes religion, through the lens of a social phenomenon.
Max Weber and Karl Marx, two prolific Sociologists who share different views with the origins and development of modern capitalism. They wanted to understand the rise of capitalism, the causes of it, as well as the direction it was heading. As they started to dissect capitalism they developed two separate conclusions generated from completely different factors. It’s hard to fathom the fact that Weber and Marx could arrive at two distinct conclusions while studying a similar event. They took two separate angles of approach, which caused them to have to opposing theories. Due too Weber and Marx approaching capitalism from different angles, their views of the dynamics, and the understanding of the origins differed.
During the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Max Weber were two of the most influential sociologists. Both of them tried to explain social change taking place in a society at that time. On the one hand, their views are very different, but on the other hand, they had many similarities.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
Desfor Edles, Laura and Scott Appelrouth. 2010. “Émile Durkheim (1858-1917).” Pp. 100 and 122-134 in Sociological Theory in the Classical Era. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Introducing cultural studies, London: Prentice Hall Bilton, et al. (1996) Introductory Sociology 3rd ed, London: Macmillan Press LTD. Blauner, R. (1964) Alienation and freedom, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chicago Press Bottomore, T.B., Rubel, M.(eds) (1963) Karl Marx: Selected writings in sociology and social philosophy, Penguin: Harmondsworth
To Marx, history d... ... middle of paper ... ... 67 Jon Elster, Making sense of Marx, Cambridge University press 1985 C.Slaughter, Marxism and the class struggle, New Park Publications LTD 1975 Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones etc.. Introductory Sociology 4th edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2002 Gregor McLennan, The Story of Sociology Ken Morrison, Marx Durkheim Weber, Sage publications LTD 1995 Fulcher&Scott, Sociology 2nd edition, Oxford university press 2003 --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] German Ideology, pp.8-13 [2] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.150, Pelican books 1963 [3] ibid, p107 [4] Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy, p.177, Pelican books 1963 [5] Essential writings of Karl Marx; p176; Panther Books Ltd ,1967
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
The purpose of this paper is to view Marx's concept of alienation (estranged labour) and
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Karl Marx’s article titled Estranged Labor as found in his 1844 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts pays significant attention to the political economic system, which is commonly referred to capitalism. He further delves into nature of the political economy with a keen focus on how it has negatively impacted the worker or laborer. Therefore, the laborer forms the subject of his critical and detailed analysis as tries demonstrates the ill nature of the political economy. To start with Karl Marx portrays how the political economy as presented by its proponents has led to emergence of two distinct classes in society; the class of property owners and on the other hand, the class of property less workers. According to Karl Marx (2004), proponents of the political economy have introduced concepts such as private property and competition indicating without providing any form of analytical explanation but rather just expecting the society to embrace and apply such concepts. In particular, political economists have failed to provide a comprehensive explanation for division that has been established between capital and labor. Estranged Labor clearly depicts Marx’s dissatisfaction as well as disapproval towards the political economy indicating that proponents of such a system want the masses to blindly follow it without any form of intellectual or practical explanation. One area that Karl Marx demonstrates his distaste and disappointment in the article is worker or the laborer and how the worker sinks to not just a commodity but rather a wretched commodity (Marx, 2004). This is critical analysis of Karl Marx concept or phenomenon on the alienation of the worker as predicted in Estranged Labor in several aspects and how these concepts are ...
Bender, Frederic L. Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ed. 1988.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Comparing Marx, Durkhiem, and Weber's Perceptions of the Development of Society from Pre-Modern to Modernity