The European theorists’ stance was unfolding during the Industrial Revolution and was affected by the European economy. Simmel, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber are the European theorists we have reviewed this semester. These European theorists highlighted the major aspects of society through their work and have presented us with different sides on an issue, while looking in from the outside of the margin. Classical Theory is a major asset of the way one stores information and gains knowledge. It is also the starting points of many theorists’ work after the 1800’s. Classical Theory allows us to understand and predict the future through the theories of the past. George Simmel argued that conflict in a variety of forms is built into all societies. He was interested in shining lights on the concerns that one faces in their daily life, such as power, conflict, love and secrecy. Simmel’s theory states that the more conflicts and chaos there are, the more unified society will become because conflicts are meant to solve problems. One of the ways that Simmel theory relates to our modern life is th...
Conflict theory starts by emphasizing that conflict within society is the normal way of life and that the changing aspects can be understood by identifying the sources of conflict and power. Conflict theory argues that society is thick with conflict and that society does not work within equality; inequalities are expected to exist such as the haves having more power than have-nots. The unequal scattering of resources creates a social arrangement or class structure, which designates social structure and influences the functioning of society. According to Steven Tepper, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, “Cultural conflict and moral regulation can serve to demarcate acceptable and unacceptable behavior, high- and low-status lifestyles, in- and outgroup membership, and reputable and disreputable values and beliefs” (Tepper 278).
Simmel’s theory of conflict may be applied to the residents in “Two Towns of Jasper” because the murder of James Byrd Jr. had created conflict of racism and forced the town to examine their collective identity. The theory of conflict explains conflict as a form of interaction, more beneficial way to bring people in one society together, and a necessary for societal change. The benefits of a conflict are promoting growth in a society, resolving issues, and innovation. “Two Towns of Jasper” demonstrates that the conflict that arises from the murder of James Byrd Jr. brings the citizens of Jasper to recognize the racial differences that are occurring and resolve these issues in order to prevent future problems. Caucasians and African-Americans come together and view the murderers as common enemies which heightened the solidarity among the two groups.
The Marx-Engels Reader by Robert C. Tucker is an anthology containing essential writings of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Major writing selections are to understand Marx perspective about history and society, such as The German Ideology. Marx introduces his historical materialism philosophy in the German Ideology: Part 1 of this book, where he proposes communism. Although I agree with a few points Marx gives, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that communism is the only way to become truly free. Marx suggest abolishing private property ownership and remove economic power from the hands of privileged people to accomplish freedom.
Based on “Freedom and Individuality”, Simmel largely perceives a positive relationship between the size or growth of society and individualism to function, but proposes that the size of the society alone does not solely determine levels of individuality. He promptly delivers his thesis, saying “the larger circle encourages individual freedom, the smaller one restricts it.” (Simmel in Calhoun 2012: 376) Simmel then goes on to describe the role of individuality within society, discussing positive aspects such as freedom and fluidity, and potentially negative aspects such as the “negative freedom of no differentiation” and loss of collective consciousness/identity. As the group grows and expands, collective identity is weakened and the original pressure to conform is relieved (to an extent), allowing for a greater opportunity for individualism to thrive in an increasingly flexible environment, at the expense of certain aspects of common culture and identity. Simmel also reflects on the difficulties associated with individualism for the individual, such as increasing difficulty trying to establish and exude one’s own unique personality within such an individualistic and flexible environment. Toward
This theory views history of human beings as a succession of modes of production to meet human material needs. This mode of production determines the social relation that would exist among a society. According to the theory, when a change in mode of production takes place, there will be a conflict “between the forces of production and the social relations of production” ("Marx And Historical Materialism")
Before expounding upon these ideas, it is necessary to establish a baseline from which to view these topics. It is important to realize that we as humans view everything from our own cultural perspective. Marx speaks of this saying, "Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all, a will, whose essential character and direction are determined by the economical conditions of existence of your class."
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) were sociologists who both existed throughout similar time periods of the 19th and early 20th centuries, resulting in both Marx, and Durkheim to be concerned about similar effects and impacts among society (Appelrouth and Edles: 20, 77). Marx’s main focus was on class distinctions among the bourgeoisie and proletariat, forces and relations of production, capital, surplus value, alienation, labour theory of value, exploitation and class consciousness (Appelrouth and Edles: 20). Whereas Durkheim’s main focus was on social facts, social solidarity – mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity, anomie, collective conscience, ritual, symbol, and collective representations (Appelrouth and Edles: 77). For the purpose of this essay, we will be focusing on the concerns that arised among Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim towards the benefits and dangers of modern capitalism. Marx and Durkheim’s concepts are comparable in the sense that Marx focuses on alienation and classes, which is similar to Durkheim’s concepts of anomie and the division of labour. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution and technological advances can be seen as a key factor that gave emergence to modern capitalism, as the economic system was based on private ownership, mass production, and increased profits, resulting in people to be separated based on class and the division of labour, later giving rise to alienation and anomie. In this essay, I will explore Karl Marx’s and Émile Durkheim’s evaluation of the benefits and dangers that came about with the rise of modern capitalism. Through these two theorists and sociologists, we can analyze, discuss, compare, critique, and come to understand how modern cap...
By definition, conflict theory basically sees the society as a pitch in which inequality thrives in order to generate conflict and change. For instance, this theory emphasizes on the purpose of coercion in generating a social order that’s often ch...
Max Weber was opposed to Marx and believed that his theory was an oversimplification of history. He thought Marx’s view of history was too focused on economics and was not considering the role of ideas and values as causes. Weber felt that scientific, historical, and philosophical causation was so connected with economic development that they can not be
The book displays two social concepts, conflict theory and structural-functionalism. Conflict theory is defined as “a theory propounded by Karl Marx that claims society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
The aims of this paper are to evaluate the effects the Industrial Revolution had on the wider world. This essay will be assessing the impact of technology and innovation on employment of the era, and how the factory system gave rise to socialism. In addition, it will be evaluating how the Industrial Revolution was the precursor to the phenomenon of consumerism and the resulting globalization.
Marx’s description of European society as driven by economics and divided by class lines is correct. However he fails to see the great influence of nationalism and he does not entertain the idea of compromise between the classes, because of this he wrongly predicts the destruction of the capitalist system and the bourgeoisies by the proletariat.
Beginning with Karl Marx and Georg Simmel, the function of conflict have been explained in various ways. Lewis Coser, Edward Rozycki and Gary Clabaugh have all interpreted the function of conflict as mostly positive under non-rigid society, for example German nazi in 1942. On the other side, theorist such as Morton Deutsch and Ralf Dahrendorf have proposed theory with opposing view against Coser’s theory. This essay will first, explain the idea of Lewis Coser on positive function of conflict, then, compare Lewis Coser to the original theory by Karl Marx and Georg Simmel, and finally, examine some subsequent development of the function of conflict by Morton Deutsch, Ralf Dahrendorf, and Edward Rozycki and Gary Clabaugh.
During our studies on the classical sociological theorist there has been a heavy focus on three key figures inspired the enlightenment period. Karl Marx was one of the first enlighten thinkers of his time, he saw the usefulness of observing the world with empirical data to obtain information about the world. He view the mode of production and the source of materialism the source for all things. He viewed the interaction between people and the material they worked with influence each other. He also believed that capitalism created a sort of alienation between all things in the world: Alienation from work, from people and from the world itself. He also focused on the bourgeoisies and their interaction with the proletariat class. Following Marx