Compare And Contrast Sociology Essay Essay

Sociology is base on two frameworks, namely organize-agency and departure-consensus. These frameworks sum total around three founders of sociology, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max weber. This essay impart attempt to render which author explains sociology within which framework. The expression used for this essay will be a point-by-point structure. This essay will start off with structure, scat on to agency and then to impinge and lastly conclude with consensus.Structure is the cordial patterns, which influence and may restrict the choices and opportunities of the psyche. Durkheim is a structuralist and explains structure by dint of affectionate details. Social f masks are the structures, values and norms, which surpass the individual and may sound to friendly constraint. Durkheim counts that structure together with hierarchy is the most important survey of maintaining a civilized society. Similarly, Marx is in like manner a structuralist. However, he explains str ucture through dialectical corporealism. Through this, he believes that history is non driven by ideas barely alternatively by economic and class interests.Thus, structure is base on what the interests of the most influential class (in an economic context) are. In contrast, weber is non a structuralist and focuses on agency more than structure (this will be explained further later on). However he does explain structure through bureaucracy and a rational-legal model. He defines bureaucracy as workaday tasks that become jurisdictional areas and are ordered by rules and regulations. Thus, structure behind only optim anyy function if bureaucracy follows the strict rules and regulations put in place without any corruption.On the other hand, agency is the ability of individuals to get along their own decisions and act independently through free will. Durkheim does not believe that society is based on the individual but more on the neighborly structures around the individual. He maintains that individuals will come and go from tender institutions, but institutions buzz off a life everyplace and above the individual and in that locationfore structure plays a more influential function than agency. Likewise, Marx also believes that structure is more important than agency but also emphasizes the fact that structure leads to the detriment of the majority of individuals. This means that the majority of individuals interests are not taken into consideration and are over powered by the role of structure.On the contrary, Weber starts his argument with agency and explains agency through verstehen and the supposition of social action. Weber maintains that it is important to understand why the individual does a certain action (verstehen) and that in that location are three different types of social action that make up a civilized society tralatitious action (actions carried out due to tradition and because thats they way things have always been done), affective action (actions carried out due to emotion to deliver personal feelings) and rational action (actions carried out using reason to chance upon a certain goal). Weber also believes that legitimate potence is based on agency and the free choice of individuals.The conflict theory maintains that social, material and economic inequality are the military capabilitys of social change within a society. Durkheim is of the belief that conflict will not achieve social change, but rather consensus (will be explained further later on). He stresses the fact that conflict will only cause disorder and chaos within a society and a society will not be capable to move forward if in that location is too much conflict. However, Marx emphasizes conflict over consensus and that inequality and class conflict furthers one side of society (the bourgeoisie) and not the other (the proletariat) due to the economic interest of the upper class. Weber is in the middle of Durkheim and Marx on both conflict and consensus. Weber is of the opinion that conflict is due to inequality within a society and the fact that there are certain people in power by force (are not chosen to be in power), which contributes even more to conflict.In contrast to conflict, consensus maintains that social and economic systems are fair and sustain social order in society. Durkheim believes that for there to be a normative alkali for order within a society, there has to be moral and normative consensus. This means that everyone within a society needs to have the aforesaid(prenominal) values, and when everyone has the same values they become norms for a society to live and act by. Marx on the other hand, does not believe in consensus but rather in conflict.He focuses on the fact that a society ass only climb on if there is conflict, not shared values and norms. If there is no economic interest within a society or class, a society will remain stagnant and not move forward. As stated before, Weber stands in the middle of Durkheim and Marx on consensus and states that for there to be consensus within a society, legitimate authority needs to be achieved through the consent of the people in a society. This means that on the whole people should decide together on who should be given authority to do what. However he also believes that for a society to progress forward, conflict and consensus need to occur simultaneously.In conclusion, the three different authors all have very different but equally important viewpoints on society. Durkheim emphasizes structure over agency and consensus over conflict. Marx also focuses on structure over agency but rather conflict over consensus. And Weber stresses agency over structure and that conflict and consensus are equally important. so Durkheim, Marx and Weber have many differences and similarities within the structure-agency and conflict-consensus frameworks.