Comparing Marx And Durkheim's Ideas

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French sociologist Emile Durkheim strongly believed in social solidarity as the major form of social order. Through his research and discoveries, he documented that anomic situations that are created by individuals in society can lead to suicide. Karl Marx who is also a sociologist, based most of his work on alienation, as well as the different situations in which it could occur. Marx not only established isolation just with the individual but also isolation due to the workplace. Many educators tend to compare Marx and Durkheim because they developed such similar ideas of modern consciousness. Both sociologists wanted to dig deeper into the aspects of diagnosing modernity amongst the norms and values of society. Although Marx and Durkheim had comparable ideas, they also had a wide range of variation between their concepts of sociology. Even to this day individuals still continue to dissect the ideology behind well known sociologists Marx and Durkheim. Emile Durkheim was a sociologist of the late 1800s who coined the term social facts which explains individuals …show more content…
Firstly, Marx issues the factory example which he relates to the worker being forced to do something that eventually makes them alienated. The difference between their theories lies in exploitation, one discusses the exploitation of the working class controlled by the capitalists, while Durkheim discusses exploitation due to the complexity of the society. While Durkheim focuses more on the individual who resists something based on their own lifestyle, which he refers to as an anomic situation. Karl Marx conflict in a societies as a negative aspect, something that resulted in dysfunctional individuals. Whereas Durkheim took conflict as a positive element in society, with conflict eventually comes resolution and orders change to

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