Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim & Webers Contribution to Society Essay

Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim & Webers Contribution to Society - Essay Example As part of understanding how society function as a whole, this report will describe, evaluate and compare specific contribution of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber when it comes to issues related to the society. This research outlines that having a strong interest in analyzing the impact of religion to the entire society, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber are among the prominent sociologists who were known for their unique classical and seminal sociological theories between the later parts of 19th century up to the present time. Since each individual have different assumptions with regards to understanding the human nature in a society where capitalism is progressing, Marx, Durkheim and Weber had unique opinions and suggestions which all contributed in the development of sociology.  The theory of Marx with regards to analyzing the society is similar to an organism in the sense that each part of the human body performs unique function. With this in mind, Marx publicly introduced the concept of labour division within the society as a result of capitalism – a situation whereby the capitalists deal with a group of labourers for the purpose of profit gain and increase in productio n.  Unlike Durkheim and Weber, Marx provided a more valid description and reasons as to why development in the structure of capitalism created serious socio-economic problems in the modern way of living.... capitalism – a situation whereby the capitalists deal with a group of labourers for the purpose of profit gain and increase in production (Hess, Markson and Stein 1989, p. 12). Unlike Durkheim and Weber, Marx provided a more valid description and reasons as to why development in the structure of capitalism created serious socio-economic problems in the modern way of living. As explained by Marx, capitalism could only result to endless exploitation of the poor as a result of the continuous economic expansion within the modern industrial system (Morrison 1995, p. 5; Ritzer 1988, pp. 20 – 23). Marx revealed that capitalists within the society take advantage of the services rendered by the workers in exchange of limited salaries aside from preventing most of the people from being able to acquire their own property. Since the workers in general are being exploited by their employers, Marx revealed that it is not right for workers to assume that the market creates value for t heir services (Marx 2002, pp. 51 – 55). Because of the possible conflict between the labourers and the capitalists, Marx suggested the need to destroy the existing structure of capitalism in order to solve the evolving socio-economic problems in the society. In relation to the perception of Marx with regards to capitalism, Durkheim suggested the strong need for socio-economic reformation as a way to effectively solve the conflicting interests between the capitalists and the labourers (Ritzer 1988, p. 88). Because of the continuous economic development within a society, Durkheim explained the identity of each individual will gradually be destroyed because of the possibility wherein the elite and the capitalists would gain strong control in terms of manipulating the society (Giddens 1971, p. 117).