Similarly the operation of any society is dependent on its social institutions as they provide vital functions which maintain harmony, stability and solidarity within a society. G P Murdock and Talcott Parsons are the main Functionalists of family. According to Talcott Parsons the family has lost many of its functions, but still has two important functions. The primary socialisation of children: children learn norms and values in their society from their parents, who teach them what is right and what is wrong. Murdock argued that the nuclear family was a universal social institution and has four important parts to play in keeping society functioning: reproductive, economic, sexual and education function.
The following essay will cover both Marx’s and Weber’s view on capitalism and how it has affected social class throughout history whilst comparing them. It will first outline each view then continue to compare. Both Karl Marx and Max Weber wrote extensively on capitalism, its origins and its future. Although there are a very few small points that they agreed on, for the most part, they strongly disagreed. Only when the analysis of their main differences is looked at, can a stronger and broader understanding of capitalism be reached.
Braverman presents an argument against what he regards as the degradation of work and the de-skilling of the labour force which is a result of the inhuman aspects of capitalism (Kanungo, 1982). The three terms, alienation, bureaucracy and de-skilling shall be explained, and the degree to which these conceptions are still applicable in modern day work organisations and industries. In the theory of alienation, Marx shows the damaging impacts of capitalist production on the workers(Ollman, 1976) by distinguishing four forms of alienation. Firstly, he argues that workers do not control the process of their work because they do not own the means of production that is necessary to manufacture a product. The worker has no role in deciding what to do or how to do it.
Write an essay on young Marx with special reference to his concept of ‘alienation’ and ‘freedom’. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it” - Karl Marx (Theses on Feuerbach, Thesis 11) Karl Marx is notably one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western Political Philosophy who had a deep impact in guiding the contours of the modern world. Apart from his deeply philosophical early works, his later writings establish a link with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in the philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy. Karl Marx is known not only as a philosopher but also as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. In the context of Marx’s writings, scholars speak of two Marx: the young and the old.
While Marxism also studies society in a macro-sociological way, it views it as being in a constant state of conflict. Scientific socialism, as it is also called, focuses on the struggle between the rich and the working class; the
It also looks at the conflict between the classes. Marxists believe there to be inequality in the education system They argue that it is based on social class and it is not a meritocratic system. It is a capitalist system whereby the rich (the bourgeoisie) stay rich and the poor (the proletariat) stay poor. Marxists believe that the whole of the education system is designed to benefit and help the bourgeoisie. Student’s values, personality and attitudes are shaped to make them useful for capitalism and to make money for society.
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between conflict/Marxist theories and functionalist theories in sociology. Marxism was founded by Karl Marx. Marx saw society as divided into two major parts, the economic base otherwise known as the infrastructure and the super-structure. Functionalists see society as a set of parts which work together to form a whole.
Marxism is a structuarlist ideology which means that they paying attention to social institutions and structures over individuals, and it was Karl Marxs (1945) who came up with it. The belief that society is divided into the bourgeoisie, who own the "means of production", and the proletariat, who do the work, also known as upper class and working class. The bourgeoisie or capitalist class exploit the workers, and arrange society to keep the workers down. Most of the profit from the work that the working class do is kept by the bourgeoisie. Now, when we know the definitions, we can look at the Marxism view of education.
Marxists may argue that these norms and beliefs are all in interest of the Bourgeoisie and they can prevent or make change by ideological manipulation or force. Functionalism is that it says that there are purposes for everyone and everything within society. For example, under a functionalist point of view crime even contributes to the function of entire society, without serving these purposes, the social structure would not function properly because police etc would not have jobs. One of the weaknesses of this view is that, however, is that some could arguably say that this means that even poverty serves a function in society. But Durkheim may have argued that poverty was more a product of "anomie" than actually serving a function.
But, Karl Marx did not write at length about crime. Marxists recognise that for a society to function efficiently, social order is necessary. Marxists agree with functionalists that socialisation plays a crucial role in promoting conformity and order. Deviance is partly the product of unequal power relations and inequality in general. Crime is often the result of offering society-demeaning work with little sense of creativity.