Marx and Durkeim
Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, arguably the two most influential contributors to Sociology, both absorbed and changed the Enlightenment ideas of reason, freedom and progress. Each man had his own theory for how society, and the people in that society, should interact with one another. Before we can start to look at how each of them absorbed and changed the Enlightenment ideas, we need to know what the Enlightenment was all about. The Enlightenment was a period of time following Medieval times and the Renaissance around the eighteenth-century. Before the Enlightenment, the church was seen to have the power. Kings should obey the priests, and God placed sovereignty in the hands of man. The Enlightenment attacked and criticized medieval thought that was prevalent during that time, challenging the numerous beliefs of the church. There are three characteristics of Enlightenment: reason, freedom, and progress. These characteristics are secular in nature, which means they are not defined as supernatural, or from some higher power, they are worldly. The main focus of the Enlightenment was on the individual, and it focused on observable things. The Enlightenment thinkers theorized that every person had the ability of reason. P
Durkheim said that an increase in dynamic density of society is the reason that society changes from mechanical to organic solidarity. These changes lead to the problem of anomie. The basis of his theory is on the assumption of human potential to reach the ultimate goal of society, which is communism. This works well for the capitalists because they have the means of production, but they need the proletariat because they provide the labor. The types of solidarity that are tied to each society separate one from another. Social facts are further broken up into two types: material and nonmaterial. This just gives them more power in the end. Emile Durkheim was another major contributor to sociology following the Enlightenment. According to them, progress can be further broken down into three types. With this process, the workers are not able to express their creativity, which hinders their human potential. Alienation occurs on three levels: with the production process, with the workers that are there with them, and within themselves with what they could potentially become. In these larger, organic societies some people do not know what is expected of them. By working for the capitalists they are paid wages, even though they are subsistence wages so the capitalist can make a profit. Karl Marx started the classic tradition of sociology. With the society being so large, people can easily avoid it completely.
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