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Karl Marx And Emile Durkheim Analysis

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Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim both displayed very differing views on the division of labour, and they each have a different proposal on how a society should be ordered. In this essay, I will be highlighting on how Marx believed in a classless society, and how Durkheim believed in structural functionalism, where a society will adjust to achieve a stable state. Furthermore, I will be relating both of their views to my home country Singapore, and why Durkheim’s theory of structural functionalism will be more applicable to the society of Singapore. Karl Marx was a great influence for many, including renowned leaders such as the former leader of Russia, Joseph Stalin. Karl Marx first pointed out his ideas about a classless society in the famous pamphlet Communist Manifesto in 1848. Marx believed that the current capitalist society is separated into two classes, the Proletariat society, and Bourgeois society. The Proletarians, as perceived by Marx, are part of the working class that only possess one significant material value, that is the ability to work, or labour power. The Bourgeoise, on the other hand, is the societal class that owns the means of production and hence rule over the Proletarians. As I quote from Marx’s book, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Marx and Engels, 1988, p. 473) Marx believes that by having such two classes where one class exerts dominance over the other, it will lead to disastrous outcomes, where income
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The dominant classes in society accumulate wealth off of expropriating the labor of society. One German economist Karl Marx has said, “The ideas of the ruling class are, the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class, which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas.” Karl Marx shows that when you are considered a higher class, which means you produce the resources need by society, you control what happens to society.

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To begin, the scholars Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Pierre Bourdieu all had different views of social inequality. One of these views best explains the current level of social inequality in today’s society. First, Karl Marx believed that social relations depended on who controlled the primary mode of production. He also believed that there were two classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat. He also wanted a classless society because he believed that liberalism was a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (the capitalist class) because this class exploited the proletariat (the working class).

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The bourgeoisie is the modern capitalist class, while the proletarian is the class of working laborers. Marx’s view of the bourgeoisie was particularly one-sided. He believed that the bourgeoisie only ambition was acquire wealth and power through the means of production. Also he believed that the bourgeoisie would exploit any and all resources at his disposal which included the labor class of the proletarian. Marx view the proletarian as the creation of the bourgeoisie.

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It is argued that social inequality occurs because of the conflict between the upper-class and the working-class, or as Marx defines it, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. Based on the Manifesto of the Communist Party (Marx and Engels, 1848), the divergence emerges because the aim of the Bourgeoisie is to obtain a surplus-value that is produced by the work of the Proletariat. On the other side, the Bourgeoisie provides the Proletariat with the minimum required, such as a place to live and a minimum wage, in order to keep the society under control and avoid a rebellion. However, Marx did predict a revolt of the working-class that would eventually lead to a communist regime. When it comes to applying this theoretical approach to reality, it is evident to notice that no global revolt in regards to capitalism has occurred.

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Marx, through his communist manifesto, believed that “modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist”, taking society from one epoch of social stratification and forced labour to Capitalism, under which the inequality between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat grew and became more evident. On the other hand, Durkheim saw industrialisation as a mainly positive occurrence which, along with the division of labour, provided the necessary institutions are in place to maintain it, as it causes society to change and develop and thus “civilization develops because it cannot fail to develop” (Durkheim: 1933: 337). Yet despite differences in their views of the effect, both Marx and Durkheim used the process of industrialisation to explain how society progresses and how society is held together or broken, with Durkheim, in particular, looking at just how much the structure of society changes as the division of labour progresses (Morrison:

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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.

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Emile Durkheim, born in 1858 was an eminent proponent of Sociology from France, considered to be one of the greatest in his field alongside Karl Marx and Max Weber. Durkheim aimed to study society taking an evolutionary approach, keeping in mind that society is composed of individuals. However, it was not essentially the aggregate sum of each individual’s behaviors, actions and thoughts. Durkheim endeavored to understand transformation of society, from traditional to modern, where solidarity changes from mechanical to organic because of the phenomenon of ‘division of labour’.

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Capitalism, according to Karl Marx is divided into two major social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie, which is the minority of the class system, own the means of production such as land, machinery, factories and raw materials whereas the Proletariat, which is the majority of the class system, having no means of their own production and have to work to earn wage for a living. Karl Marx has his own theory that history is made up by class struggle which he mentioned in his book – Manifesto of the Communist Party: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Marx and Engels, 1848) and had predicted that the Proletariat would lead a revolution to overthrow the Bourgeoisie. Karl Marx believed that there will be intrinsic conflict like exploitation, alienation of labour and commodity fetishism between both of the classes.

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