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. Marx looked at how capitalism separated humanity by making work a simple means of individual existence. In addition he describes society in terms of class and economic conflicts. Marx saw proletariat or people of a working class as being underneath the bourgeoisie or the capitalist of a modern society. Marx looked at how alienation of production of commodities by workers also leads to alienation of social life.
Many sociologists have given alternate views about the main function of education. Functionalists argue that the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus – agreed social values – whereas Marxists argue that education transmits values that benefit the ruling class. Durkheim (1903), a functionalist, argues that society needs a sense of social solidarity because without it, social life and cooperation would be impossible as individuals would pursue their own selfish desires. The education system helps create social solidarity by transmitting society’s culture from one generation to the next so the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus in society. However, Marxists criticise this and argue that education in capitalist society only transmits the ideology of the ruling class and not the shared values of society.
Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx and Engels 1848). Social class, therefore, is based upon economic criteria and conflict occurs between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the wage-labourers (proletariat). As well as having economic control over the proletariat, the bourgeoisie also have the power to determine the superstructure; the ruling class can distort perceptions of the world and hide the true nature of social relationships and the exploitation of the proletariat and, above all, promote bourgeoisie interests. Marx defines production as workers selling their labour for wages in order to exchange money for commodities that will meet their most basic needs. As Marx
Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes. Durkheim believed in studying the “social facts,” which would help determine if a society was healthy or pathological. Weber’s focus on the structure of society included the elements of class, status and power. Each sociologist had a great influence in the field of sociology, but took different approaches to studying societies. Sociology enables us to understand how society functions and under which circumstances.
An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley, set in 1912, replicates the views and opinions of those who believed in social class. The material wealth in the society blinded those who believed in social class into accepting that they had no responsibility in the society. This play has a moral message of caring for others and working in a community to create a fairer society. This socialist inspiration for Priestley came from Bernard Shaws and H. G. Wellses, who also had communist aims for the society.
As the political Ida of capitalism has corrupted the Birling family, Priestly shows the audience how the inspector, the voice of socialism, constantly out-wits the birling’s. This therefore appeals to the audience as within today’s society there are still large segregations between what political ideology people choose to believe in. In conclusion I feel that the play “an inspector calls” creates lasting appeal as it interests today’s audience within all aspects of life, and how morals and ideas portrayed within the ply can be compared to peoples everyday situations. As political ideology as the largest theme within the play, today’s society are interested not just in today’s politics, but how morals and politics shaped the world previous to their
Institutions like the family, education and religion lead individuals into accepting the inequalities or capitalism. In other words, Marxists think that people are socialised into a culture based on their social class. They think people’s identity depends on their class position in the capitalist system. Criticism Not everyone agrees with the Marx’s views. The other 3 theories have different opinions on what culture
The concept of a classless society has been elaborated by Karl Marx, the father of Marxist philosophy which is the basis of the Communist ideology. As a member of a contemporary society under a democracy, my beliefs are rooted on a society made up of different classes. In order to get to a higher class of society, one has to work with sweat, and even blood. This idea has caused many revolutions because some who do not want the present structure of society want it to be restructured to suit the need of every individual. This essay is an attempt to discuss a classless society and to establish whether a classless society is attainable and sustainable in this century.
It focuses on class conflict. A key founder of conflict theory was Karl Marx. He believed that there is/or was a bitter conflict between the bourgeoisie (those who own the capital) and the proletariat (the workers who toil for low pay). He believed this conflict could only end when the proletariat repelled aging the bourgeoisie. Functionalist division of labor Education provides society with a ‘division of labor’ this means schools help identify who will be the bin man and who will
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.