Write a brief summary of recent event SAE brothers at OU facing death threats, assaults essay writing services
Write a brief summary of recent event SAE brothers at OU facing death threats, assaults, lawyer says: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/us/sae-fraternity-fallout/index.html (not a personal or individual experience), citing at least one online news media source with a link or hyperlink.
How Marx, Durkheim, OR Weber would analyze or interpret this event? Citing the assigned readings.
Required Texts:
Lemert, C. (Ed.). (2013). Social Theory: The Multicultural, Global, and Classic Readings (5th ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview.
• “Emile Durkheim,” in Lemert, pp. 56-57
• “Mechanical and Organic Solidarity,” Durkheim, in Lemert, pp. 57-59
• “Anomie and the Modern Division of Labor,” Durkheim, in Lemert, pp. 60-61
• “Sociology and Social Facts,” Durkheim, in Lemert, pp. 61-63
• “Max Weber,” in Lemert, p. 79
• “The Spirit of Capitalism and the Iron Cage,” Weber, in Lemert, pp. 79-82
• “The Bureaucratic Machine,” Weber, in Lemert, pp. 83-87
• “Class, Status, and Party,” Weber, in Lemert, pp. 90-97
LECTURE
Marx, Durkheim, and Weber
Karl Marx (1818-1883), Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), and Max Weber (1864-1920) all wrote in
response to the Industrial Revolution. Each analyzed what he saw as the profound social change
resulting from this revolution, particularly the turn from the spiritual or moral to the material and
economic.
Whereas Marx interpreted all social relations and institutions as functions of material relations,
Durkheim saw morality as ―the glue‖ that held pre-modern societies together. Growing up in
France, in a family of rabbis, Durkheim believed that in traditional societies, people felt morally
obligated to one another, and, thus, social needs and standards trumped individual needs and
desires. There was a strict moral code.
But the Industrial Revolution upset this moral code, and replaced the moral order with an
economic one. As a result, the hallmark of modern society is the absence of social standards
and regulations, with individuals fending for themselves and unable to meet changing social
needs. Durkheim calls this absence and lack of conformity between the individual and the social
anomie.
Durkheim is also responsible for the theory of functionalism, which states that society is like an
organism in a state of equilibrium –each social institution or group operates in harmony with all
other social institutions and groups to form a balanced, smoothly operating system. When this
system undergoes change, such as that of the Industrial Revolution, society is in a temporary
state of disequilibrium and anomie results. But anomie too is temporary. And once society
reaches equilibrium again –in a new state of balance—anomie goes away and social order
returns, in a new form.
Durkheim’s theory of functionalism stands in stark contrast to Marx’s theory that traditional and
modern societies are marked by class struggle and conflict (with such tensions disappearing only
in a future communist society).
Weber’s theories were slightly more compatible with Marx’s. But rather than seeing the roots of
capitalism as being only material, Weber saw them as being spiritual as well. He described
capitalism as arising from the Protestant ethic –the belief that working hard to succeed in
business and investing the earnings in further economic progress, not self indulgence, was a lofty
moral and spiritual activity. Indeed, Weber’s most famous book is titled The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905). He explains that the ―spirit of capitalism‖ makes a virtue of
the pursuit of profit.But as capitalism has grown in strength and influence, the ―spirit,‖ or religious origins, have left
it; and Weber likens the bureaucracy of modern capitalism to an ―iron cage‖ trapping individuals
in a completely material world. Whereas the Protestant ethic presents one’s work or occupation
as a spiritual calling, in the rational ―iron cage‖ of capitalism, one’s work or occupation is mostly
a bland routine taken up in exchange for material gain and nothing more. This idea is somewhat
similar to Marx’s concept of alienation.
Has society reached a state of equilibrium, and has anomie disappeared? Is capitalism still an
―iron cage,‖ or is the ―spirit‖ of it returning? These are questions worth asking about our
contemporary society, to evaluate the relevance of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim today.
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