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. Emile Durkheim thought that society was multifaceted system of consistent and co-dependent parts that work together to maintain stability. One important thing that Durkheim believed held society together was social facts. He thought that social facts consisted of feeling, acting, and thinking externally from the person and coercive power over that person. These things could include social institutions, rules, values, and norms. They have control over an individual’s life. Durkheim believed that society was made of individuals, but in order to study society we must look beyond the individual to the social facts. Social facts act external to the individual and impose themselves upon the individual, according to Emile Durkheim. If the rules of social facts are violated then there can be punishment or social ridicule. These are things that keep individuals from acting out of the norm from society. Things such as schools, religion, and government keep people from acting out of the norms and morals of society.
Durkheim