Instead of studying social economics as a whole, other social sciences may study about the distribution of economic goods and how it affects an individual. In other words, a sociologist emphasizes social behavior, but a psychologist will focus more on individual behavior. Karl Marx believed that economics was the underlying key to understanding human society. His idea was that social conflict leads to change in society. Conflict resulted from the struggles of different social classes over the means of production.
The first is, Max Weber who was a German Conflict theorist who in part responsible for the development of the Symbolic Interactionist paradigm because he argued that meaning requires understanding. He is also recognized for the importance of economic conditions in producing inequality and conflict in society. Weber felt that sociologists should not let their own personal biases affect the research process. He stressed that researchers should stay neutral and objective, or “value-free.” He added power and prestige to inequality which I think also falls under Functionalism with power being evenly distributed among his own society. My second choice is Emile Durkheim, he was a French order theorist who argued that society is characterized by stability and strong integration based on mutual benefit.
He argued that capital society and social order are all link to a capital system to human beings. Durkheim on the other hand, argued that sociology should be look at social facts as objects. Roles and institutions act like bodily organs, each depending on other. The world should be divided into subjective and objective, regarding society as a reality in itself. Durkheim sees anomie as responsible for the world’s disorder of economics- the lack of morality and regulation resulted in overpowering the weak; thus, he feels that only norms can prevent the abuse of power and calls for regulation and equal opportunity from birth- the greater the equal opportunity the less need for restraint.
The first sociological perspective, structural factualism, was established by Auguste Comte. Comte discussed the stages that societal knowledge must surpass, with significance on logical reasoning, as well as society as a structure and how it is composed of many parts (Murray, 2011). Herbert Spencer compared the structure of society to a human body due to the contribution of the many organs it takes to sustain life. Max Weber, one of the symbolic interactionists introduced the approach that society is a product of individual interactions (Murray, 2011). Central conflict theorist Karl Marx asserted that society is not a harmonious system, but riddled with unfairness, conflict and disorder.
Weber believed it was linked to the type of job people could get, Weber thought differently to Marx about this, as marx believed it was due to owning factories or other resources, and weber thought it was due to skills and qualifications. Weber’s idea of class influenced the ideas of other sociologists, such as goldthorpe (1980). Goldthorpe derived a stratification scale which includes the Weberian concept of market position. This was felt by sociologists to be a more accurate technique of studying stratification, as a pose to just studying peoples jobs. Weber was skeptical about the possibility of the working class bonding together for revolutionary purposes, for example becoming class-conscious because of differences in status would always undermine any common cause.
The social action approach, argues that individuals experience the social world by interpreting their actions and interactions with others and the meaning they assign to social phenomena. The starting point for understanding society should be the individual as they are authors of their own ideas. Emphasis should be given to how shared meanings develop and how these influence the way individuals define, act and react to their environment. Opposing the social action approach are the structural theories. Structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism are macro (large scale), and deterministic: they see society as a real thing existing over and above us, shaping our ideas and behaviour – individuals are like puppets, manipulated by society.
Firstly is social interest, such as health and safety and public order, whilst individual interests include privacy and domestic relations. Pound believed where possible the law should create a level playing field of these interests meaning social interests should be weighed against social interests and individual interests against individual interests as a failure to do this will result in a bias in favour of social interest. Karl Marx believed the law was part of the ‘repressive state apparatus’ used to ensure the continuing exploitation of the working class members of society by the upper and ruling classes. For Marx, the law treated as lesser the interests of the lower classes to those of the upper classes and so did not and would not truly
Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism are all sociological theories that all take a structuralist approach to society. They all agree that society shapes us. However, their views on how this is achieved are very different. Functionalism is a consensus approach and focusses on everyone agreeing on the same shared values and functional prerequisites. On the other hand, Marxism and Feminism are both conflict approaches and believe not everyone agrees or has the same shared values, but that they are forced upon us.
For example education’s function is to ensure that people are educated to be good at the job they will do after leaving school. Marxism Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German philosopher who believed that material goods are at the root of the social world. According to Marx, social life is fundamentally about conflict over food, land, money, and other material goods. Marx believed that the ideal government would be a communist state where resources are equally shared. Like Talcott Parsons Marx believed that individual behaviour was shaped by society, but he also believed that it was the economic system that defined society and the place that people had within society.
Socialist believe that as capitalism has fostered competitive and selfish behaviour, human inequality very largely reflects the unequal structure of society. They believe that the most significant forms of human inequality are as a result of unequal treatment of society, rather than unequal endowment of nature. Thus, socialists do not wish to just provide individuals with an equal opportunity to develop themselves, but rather demand social equality. All socialists argue that a major factor of the social inequality in society is the lack of economic equality due to capitalism. Socialists have often traced this inequality in society to the institution of private property.