UNIT 1

SOCIOLOGICAL THINKERS-I
Karl Marx
Introduction

• Marx was the sociologist and economist of capitalist regime. He had a certain
conception of that regime, of the destiny it imposed upon men and the
revolution that it would undergo.

• Some important works of Marx- The poverty of Philosophy,The Communist

Manifesto, Das Kapital, A Contribution to the critique of political economy.
Karl Marx
Commodity

•Marx decided to begin by analysing the idea of the commodity, the production and
exchange of which forms one of the main bases of the capitalist mode of
production.

• A commodity is an external object which which through its qualities can satisfy
human needs and is exchanged for something else. Commodity can be both
tangible (goods) and intangible (services).

• For an object to be considered a commodity it has to produce use value for

others.

• A commodity is made up of materials provided by nature and the labour

expended to create it.
Karl Marx
Commodity

• Commodi cation- The subordination of both private and public realms to the
logic of capitalism. In this logic, such things as friendship, knowledge,
women, etc. are understood only in terms of their monetary value. In this way,
they are no longer treated as things with intrinsic worth but as commodities.
(They are valued, that is, only extrinsically in terms of money.) By this logic, a
factory worker can be reconceptualised not as a human being with speci c
needs that, as humans, we are obliged to provide but as a mere wage debit in
a businessman's ledger.
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Karl Marx
Capitalist society

• The economic system of production and distribution or the means and relations of
production constitute the basic structure of society on which are built all other social
institutions particularly the legal and the political system.

• Marx- in social production which men carry on they enter into de nite relations that
are indispensable and independent of their will. These relations of production
correspond to a de nite stage of development of their material powers of production.
The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of
the society- the real foundation on which rise legal and political superstructure and
to which correspond de ne forms of social consciousness. The mode of production
in material life determines the general character of the social, political and spiritual
processes of life . It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence,
on the contrary their social existence determines their conciseness.
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Karl Marx
Class con ict

• Marx developed his theory of class con ict in his analysis and critique of
capitalist society.

• According to Marx a social class is any aggregate of persons who perform the
same function in the organisation of production.
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Karl Marx
Capitalist Society

• 1) Development of proletariat- the capitalist economic system transforms the

masses of people into workers who are initially unknown to one another,
creates for them a common situation and inculcates in them awareness of
common interest.

• 2) Importance of ownership of means of production. Development of class

consciousness and con ict over the distribution of economic rewards fortify
the class barriers.Economic conditions of particular era determined social,
political and legal arrangements that lead to transformation of society.
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Karl Marx
Capitalist Society

• 3) Identi cation of economic and political power and authority. Although classes
founded on forces and relations of production they become socially signi cant
only in the political sphere. The bourgeoisie use the State as an instrument of
economic exploitation and consolidation of their self-interests.

• 4) Theory of surplus value. Capitalists accumulate pro t by exploitation of

labour. Marx gave the theory of surplus value to explain the process of
exploitation of labour by the capitalist.

• 5) Polarisation of classes. As the class consciousness grows the whole society

is divided into two antagonistic classes the bourgeoisie (those who own the
means of production) and the proletariat(those who own nothing but their own
labour).
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Karl Marx
Capitalist Society

• 6) Pauperisation. Poverty of the proletariat grows with increasing exploitation

of labour. To Marx poverty is a consequence of exploitation and not of scarcity.

• 7) Alienation. The worker is the victim of exploitation at the hands of the

capitalists. The alienation of the worker in his product means not only that his
labour becomes an object, but that it exists outside him independently as
something alien to himself. The worker spends his life and produces
everything not for himself but for the powers that manipulate him. The workers
activity does not belong to him but belongs to another. This is a loss of his self.
Marx has identi ed two hostile powers which render labour and his product as
alien. They are the capitalists who command production and the other is the
market situation that governs the capital and the process of production.
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Karl Marx
Capitalist Society

• 8) Class solidarity. With the growth of class consciousness crystallisation of relations

into two social classes becomes streamlined and class struggle is intensi ed. Class in
itself transforms into class for itself

• 9) Revolution. At the height of class struggle a violent revolution culminates which

destroys the structure of capitalist society.

• 10) Dictatorship of the proletariat. The bloody revolution ends capitalist social structure
ans instead bring dictatorship of the proletariat. This is a transitional phase.

• 11) communist society. Socialisation of private property will eliminate class and
thereby the causes of social con ict. In such a society nobody owns anything but
everybody owns everything and each individual contributes according to his ability but
receives according his needs. The state will wither away in this classless society.
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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Introduction

• Major works- The Division of Labour in Society, The Suicide, The Elementary
Forms of Religious Life, The Rules of Sociological Method
Emile Durkheim
Morality and society

• Durkheim de nes morality as “a system of rules of conduct”.

• b) obligation or duty. Moral rules are invested with a special authority by virtue
of which they are obeyed simply because they command.

• C) Desirability. For us to become agents of a moral act it must interest our

sensibility to a certain extent and appear to us as desirable.

• A combination of obligatory and desirable make up moral.

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Emile Durkheim
Morality and society

• Important features of morality-

• A) relativism. Morals are relative to diversity of social organisations. Morality is
a function of society and hence it makes sense only in relation to a given
collectivity.

• B) the source of morality is society and there is an indissoluble bond between

man and society. It is impossible to desire a morality other than that endorsed
by the condition of society at a given time. To desire a morality other than that
implied by the nature of society is to deny the latter and consequently oneself.
Emile Durkheim
Morality and society

• Durkheim identi ed three elements of morality-

• 1) the spirit of discipline.
• 2) attachment to social groups.
• 3) autonomy and self determination.
• Durkheim believed that the modern society is governed by deteriorating
morality. Economic sphere has become most elaborate and varied but
occupational ethics exists only at the most rudimentary form. Individuals are
primarily motivated by self interest and rarely restraint themselves.
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Emile Durkheim
Moral education and society

• Durkheim views education and society as inextricably linked, the former as

an element in the latter's overall structure. This link is purely functionalist, for
Durkheim further argues that the educational system contributes to the
survival of society: 'Education is, then, only the means by which society
prepares, within the children, the essential conditions of its very
existence' (1956: 71). Every society, argued Durkheim, has its own 'ideal of
man, of what he should be, as much from the intellectual point of view as the
physical and moral' (1956: 70), so that the purpose of education is to produce
ideal adults.
Emile Durkheim
Moral Education and Society

• For Durkheim, modern moral education is the activity of transmitting good

and right behaviours of a society to its future citizens. He regarded the
teacher as a “secularised” priest or prophet charged with the mission—by
means of words, demeanour, and actions—of transmitting society’s core
values and behaviours. For Durkheim, the teacher is a powerful and essential
force in moral education, and, in fact, is much more important than the family.
A family is ultimately focused on caring, supporting, and protecting its
children, and it will always compromise on moral issues when its own children
are involved. Thus, it is the educator who is charged with transmitting moral
codes and enforcing moral behaviours in the young.
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Emile Durkheim
Moral education and society

• Durkheim constructed a theory of educational practice which included the three

basic elements of morality: 1) Discipline - Durkheim believed that discipline was
essential to ensure consistency and regularity of conduct, as well as to rein in
his desires. 2) Autonomy- individuals are provided with a sense of autonomy in
which a child understands the reasons why certain rules prescribing certain
behaviours should be willingly accepted. 3) belongingness to social group.
Finally the process of socialisation aims at developing a sense of devotion to
society and its moral system and hence attachment to social group.

• Durkheim never lost his conviction that a strong society required a strong
educational system, and that the ideal adult' was a person who was integrated
and committed to the goals of the society as a whole.
Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• Durkheim has elaborated his theory of religion by studying totemism among

the Arunta tribes of Australia.

• Totemism is a religious system in which certain things, particularly animals

and plants, come to be regarded as sacred and as emblems of the clan.

• Durkheim viewed totemism as the simplest, most primitive form of religion. It

is paralleled by a similar primitive form of social organisation, the clan.

• Clan - a clan is a unilateral kin group that is usually exogamous, claiming

descent from a common ancestor and is often represented by a totem.
Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• Although a clan may have a large number of totems , Durkheim was not
inclined to believe them as a series of separate fragmentary beliefs about
speci c animals or plants. Instead he tended to view them as inter-related set
of ideas that give the clan complete representation of the world.

• The plant or animal is not the source of totemism, it merely represents the
source. It is a material representation of non-material source.

• The totems are the material representation of the non-material force that is at
their base. And that immaterial force is the collective conscience of the
society.
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Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• Collective conscience- “ a body of beliefs and sentiments common to the

average member of a society”.
Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• Totemism and more generally, religion is derived from the collective morality
and becomes in itself an impersonal force.

• For him the essence of totemism is the worship of an impersonal, anonymous

force at once immanent and transcendent. This anonymous di use force
which is superior to men and yet very close to them is nothing but the society
itself.

• Religion as Durkheim saw and explained it is nothing but society divinised.

Durkheim stated that the deities that people worship are nothing but
projection of the power of society.

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Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• How does the clan create totemism? The answer lies in Durkheim’s concept
of collective e ervescence.

• Collective e ervescence comprises of the great moments in history when a

collectivity is able to achieve a new and heightened level of collective
exaltation that in turn can lead to new creations in structure of society.
Durkheim argued that religion arises during collective e ervescence.

• During the period of collective e ervescence the clan create religion.

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Emile Durkheim
Totemism

• In sum totemism is the symbolic representation of the collective conscience

and this collective conscience is derived from the society.

• Thus society is the source of collective conscience, religion, God and

ultimately everything that is sacred.

• This is clearly discernible in primitive society. It is also true for modern society
even though the relationship is greatly obscured by the complexities of
modern society.
Emile Durkheim
Sacred and Profane

• Durkheim argued that religious phenomena emerges in any society when a

distinction is made between sacred and profane.
•The sacred refers to those objects, symbols, rituals, and beliefs that are
considered holy, divine, or supernatural. They are set apart from the ordinary
and mundane aspects of life and are often associated with a higher power or
transcendent reality. Sacred elements evoke a sense of awe, reverence, and
respect, and often involve rituals and practices that help individuals and
communities connect with the divine.
• Examples: Mecca , the Vatican City , the Holy Quran, The Bhagvad Gita.
Emile Durkheim
Sacred and Profane

• The profane, on the other hand, refers to the ordinary, everyday aspects of life
that are not connected to the divine or supernatural. Profane elements are
secular, mundane, and practical, and are not considered to hold any special
spiritual signi cance.
• Examples: Common household items such as tables, chairs, secular spaces
like shopping malls.
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 Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• De nition- suicide is every case of death resulting directly or indirectly from a

positive or a negative act performed by the victim himself which he knows will
produce this result.

• Durkheim rejected all extra social factors such as heredity, climate, mental
alienation, racial characteristics and imitation as causes of suicide and
instead suggested that suicide which appears to be a phenomenon
appertaining an individual can actually be explained apropos social structure
and its ramifying functions which may induce, perpetuate or aggravate
likelihood of suicide.
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Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• Durkheim has linked each type of suicide to integration into or regulation by

the society.

• Integration refers to the degree to which collective sentiments are shared.

• Regulation refers to the degree of external constraint on the individual.
Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• Durkheim has identi ed four types of suicide:

• 1) Egoistic Suicide- egoistic suicide is a consequence of lack of integration of an
individual with his/her social group. Durkheim studied varying degrees of
integration of individuals into their religion, family, political and national
communities and found that the more the forces compel the individuals to resort
to their own resources the greater the rate of suicide in that society.

• When individuals are not well integrated into their society, individuals are left to
pursue their private interests in whatever they wish. Such unrestrained egoism is
bound to lead to personal dissatisfaction since all needs cannot be ful lled and
it is likely that those needs that are ful lled may lead to generation of more
needs and ultimately to dissatisfaction and for some to suicide.
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Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• Durkheim believes that family is a powerful counter agent against suicide.

• Durkheim contends that large families are more solidly integrated and act as
powerful safeguard against suicide as small families are unstable and short
lived and their sentiments lack intensity.

• Durkheim insists that greater social disturbances and wars rouse collective
sentiments and feeling of patriotism and national faith and compel people to
close ranks and confront danger leading to a more powerful integration of the
individual into his/her community.
Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• 2) Altruistic suicide- this type of suicide results from over integration of the
individual into his social group. An individual’s life is so scrupulously governed
by customs and habits that the person commits suicide because of higher
commandments. People who commit altruistic suicide do so because they
feel it is their duty to do so.

• Examples include the practice of sati , suicide bombers.

Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• 3) Anomic suicide. This type of suicide is a consequence of deregulation in

society. Disruptions in regulations are likely to leave individuals dissatis ed
because there is little control over their passion.

• Rates of anomic suicide are likely to rise whether the nature of disruption is
positive (a sudden economic boom) or negative (an economic depression)

• Either type of disruption renders the collectively temporarily incapable of

exercising control over individuals. Such changes put people in new situations
where older norms no longer apply but new ones have not yet been developed.

• Such abrupt transitions unleash currents of anomie- moods of rootlessness and

normlessness and these currents lead to increase in rate of anomic suicide.

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Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• Any abrupt transition such as economic disaster, economic crisis, or sudden

prosperity can cause deregulation of the normative structure. Durkheim
contends that anomie is a chronic state of a airs in modern industrial society.
There are sudden disruptions but collective conscience requires time to
reclassify men and things. During such periods of transition there is little
restraint on aspiration which continue to rise unbridled. Overwhelming
ambition and the race for unattainable goals heighten anomie.

• Durkheim believes that factors such as industrial relation free from all
regulations, lack of strong moral values in sphere of trade and industry, loss of
religious in uence , contribute to anomie in industrial societies.
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Emile Durkheim
Suicide

• 4) Fatalistic suicide- there is little-mentioned fourth type of suicide termed

fatalistic suicide which Durkheim discussed only in a foot note in his suicide

• Fatalistic suicide is more likely to occur when regulation is excessive. Too

much regulation unleashes currents of melancholy that in turn causes a rise in
fatalistic suicide.

• Example a slave who takes his own life because of the hopelessness
associated with the oppressive regulation of every action.