Karl Marx Case

This is an essay about the two early sociologists Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim explaining about their theories and methods. It explains how they defined the concept of modern society by reading books that they have published such as Durkheim’s: The division of Labour in Society and Marx’s: The Communist Manifesto. Emile Durkheim used his anomie theory to explain the confusion of modern society and the division of Labour in Society. He divides the society into stages where it goes from simple to complex (mechanical to organic). Emile Durkheim did not only explain anomie in crime but did even better in using it with suicide. Karl Marx believed in communism and that everyone should be treated equally and that the society is divided in classes which have developed from the history of the world. It is the same classes but only developed into something else. Marx also believed that there were two classes; rulers and workers and that they exchanged products and the ruler gained the production in the end.

Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, introduced the concept of anomie in his book, The Division of Labour in Society which was published in 1893. Emile Durkheim was worried about the effects of social change so he came up with a theory called Anomie. Anomie was a method for Durkheim to describe the condition of deregulation that was taking place in the society. This was ways on how people tend to behave with each other were breaking down and society did not know what to expect from each other. Anomie is when norms expected through their behaviour are confused, unclear or not present. Durkheim used the term Anomie in his study on Suicide in 1897, considering it a morally deregulated condition. As mentioned before, he demonstrated his concept of anomie very good not in a discussion of crime but of suicide. Emile Durkheim proposed two concepts in his book The Division of Labour in Society. First, he explained that societies developed from a simple, non-specialized, called mechanical, to a highly complex specialized form called organic. Durkheim states in The Division of Labour in Society:

“The first binds the individual directly to society without any intermediary. In the second, he depends upon society, because he depends upon the parts of which it is composed.” (1893)

People behave and have the same thoughts in the former society. They more or less perform the same working tasks and have the same goals in the groups they are familiarized with. This means that the society becomes more complex, or as Durkheim would say ‘organic’ when the work also become more complex because one triggers the other. In this society, people are not tied to another any more and social bonding does not involve personal feelings.

However, Anomie also can be explained as a breakdown of social norms and this is a condition where the behaviour no longer has a control in the activities of members in the society. Individuals find it hard