How are Marx Weber and Durkheim different?
Marx's theory based on social critique and conflict, wherein Durkheim emphasizes on social factors. Weber believes social relation shaped by politics, economics and culture and individual act has subjective meaning.
Common elements in the social theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber are usually seen as common responses to the development of industrial, capitalist, democratic, bureaucratic structures.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Max Weber (1864-1920) are two remarkable founding fathers of Sociology. Both of them spent huge effort to study the rise of capitalist society. Marx created conflict theory paradigm called Marxism while Weber inspired the symbolic interactionism, both paradigm are still influential nowaday.
However, where Marx and Durkheim begin to diverge is that while Durkheim accepted societal conflict as pathological, inherent, and natural, Marx disagreed and conjected that the conflict was rooted in class struggle and that it was the root, underlying cause of strife within any given civilization (and as such, a ...
For Durkheim, religion was a force for cohesion that helped bind the members of society to the group, while Weber believed religion could be understood as something separate from society.
Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber are indispensable for understanding the sociological enterprise. They are among the chief founders of the discipline and among the foremost theorists of modernity, and their work can stimulate readers to reflect on their own identities and worldviews.
The most important thing to note is that both theories are macro-structural perspectives that hold a deterministic view of society. However, Marxism is based on economic factors whereas functionalism emphasises the importance of socialisation, shared culture and value consensus.
Similar to Weber and Marx, Durkheim also believed that the societal changes brought upon by industrialzation could eventually lead to unhappiness. According to Durkheim, an important component of social life was social solidarity, which can be understood as a sense of community.
Durkheim's argument is that there are two types of social solidarity – how society holds together and what ties the individual to the society. These two forms mechanical solidarity, which characterizes earlier or traditional societies, where the division of labour is relatively limited.
Two of sociology's greatest thinkers, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, both viewed religion to be a vital aspect of society. They both believed it to be socially constructed; man created religion, religion did not create man. Society created religion to meet certain needs of its members.
What is the difference between Marx and Marxism?
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Difference between Marxism and Communism.
Marxism | Communism |
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A political ideology based on Karl Marx's ideas is known as Marxism. | A political system based on Marxist ideology is known as Communism. |
Weber and Marx are both viewed as founders of modern sociology. Both are interested in economics and how society functions under certain economic situations. They also study how society gets into these economic situations.

Max Weber is famous for his thesis that the “Protestant ethic” (the supposedly Protestant values of hard work, thrift, efficiency, and orderliness) contributed to the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism.
❓ What did Karl Marx and Max Weber agree on? Both scientists agreed that capitalism as a completely original form of social structure. Marx's opinion on this structure was negative. Nevertheless, he still accepted the innovative nature of capitalism.
On the one hand, Durkheim proclaimed that religion would continue to exist due to its very social nature. On the other, Weber professed that religion would come to an end due to its social nature.
Weber considered religion as a means of achieving the needs of the society, whereas Marx believed that religion only provides temporary alleviation of the problems of the society.
They both focused on religion as an important constituent of society. According to Durkheim there would be no society without the factor of religion and same as Weber described his opinion about the significance of religion in terms of individual social life.
Unlike Karl Marx, Durkheim did not foresee any different society arising out of the industrial capitalist division of labour. He regarded conflict, chaos, and disorder as pathological phenomena to modern society, whereas Marx highlights class conflict.
Weber believed that modern societies were obsessed with efficiency – modernizing and getting things done, such that questions of ethics, affection and tradition were brushed to one side – this has the consequence of making people miserable and leading to enormous social problems.
Marx was a conflict theorist and argued that the division of labor resulted in alienation, he mainly focused on the social inequalities between social groups. On the other hand, Durkheim claimed that the division of labor was not necessarily bad for the individual or society.
What is the main difference between social functionalism and social conflict theory?
Functionalism emphasizes the importance of social institutions for social stability and implies that far-reaching social change will be socially harmful. Conflict theory emphasizes social inequality and suggests that far-reaching social change is needed to achieve a just society.
Functionalists have a very general analysis of the role of education in society, simply looking at how it contributes to the maintenance of social order, whereas Marxists analyse the role of education by focusing on how it performs different functions for different social classes.
Similar to Marx, Weber saw class as economically determined. Society, he believed, was split between owners and laborers. Status, on the other hand, was based on noneconomic factors such as education, kinship, and religion. Both status and class determined an individual's power, or influence over ideas.
According to Durkheim, all elements of society, including morality and religion, are part of the natural world and can be studied scientifically. In particular, Durkheim sees his sociology as the science of institutions, which refer to collective ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Durkheim's Limitations
One of the oldest and most notable limitations of Durkheim is methodological. Durkheim fails to adequately address the ecological fallacy of studying suicide rates to understand individual behavior.
According to Durkheim, society should be analyzed and described in terms of functions. Society is a system of interrelated parts where no one part can function without the other. These parts make up the whole of society. If one part changes, it has an impact on society as a whole.
In his 1875 writing, Critique of the Gotha Program, Marx summarized the communist philosophy in this way: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” By contrast, socialism is based on the idea that people will be compensated based on their level of individual contribution to the economy.
Marx argues that there are inequalities in society based on social class differences. Marx claims that to improve society and make it fairer there needs to be large-scale change. Marxism is criticised for ignoring other important factors such as gender and ethnicity, focusing too much on social class.
(mɑːʳksɪzəm ) uncountable noun. Marxism is a political philosophy based on the writings of Karl Marx which stresses the importance of the struggle between different social classes.
Similarities between Marxist and Functionalist Perspectives:
Both think schools help legitimize social inequality. Both are “macro” theories, so they look at the effect of education in the context of the rest of society, it can determine the rest of society with beliefs, values and skills.
What are the two main differences between Max Weber and Karl Marx's theories of social stratification quizlet?
The two main differences between Max Weber's and Karl Marx's theories of social stratification is class divisions derive not from control or lack of control of the means of production but also from economic differences that have nothing to do with property like people's skills and credentials.
Max Weber (1864- 1920) is perhaps best known of his work on the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. His views have been much debated but the key idea in Weber was that there was a link between the rise of capitalism and an ethos of self control associated with Protestant reformation.
The three main themes within the essays were: the effect of religious ideas on economic activities; the relation between social stratification and religious ideas; and the distinguishable characteristics of Western civilisation. Weber saw religion as one of the core forces in society.
He believed all countries should become capitalist and develop that productive capacity, and then workers would naturally revolt, leading communism whereby the workers would become the dominant social class and collectively control the means of production.
Marx's expectation was that this class consciousness would develop. Weber is much more skeptical of consciousness developing on the basis of class and argues that there are many different bases for common class situation.
Functionalists have a very general analysis of the role of education in society, simply looking at how it contributes to the maintenance of social order, whereas Marxists analyse the role of education by focusing on how it performs different functions for different social classes.
In which Karl Marx has more conflict perspective to study society. On the other hand, Max Weber has an interpretive understanding of society. Karl Marx's view is narrowed down to the economic perspective. On the other hand, Max Weber has a wide perspective to view society.
The bureaucratic rationalization of the modern capitalistic society was one of the main features making Weber's interpretation of capitalism distinct from the interpretation of Marx. Weber considered that the bureaucratic rationalization developed regardless of the form of ownership on the means of production.
Thesis statement: Marx argues that class is determined by economic factors, whereas Weber argues that social stratification cannot be defined solely in terms of class.
Similarities between Marx and Weber were against Social Stratification and saw that it caused social conflict. and inequality. Differences between the two were that Marx saw it in a two class model capitalist and proletarians. Weber saw it as class, status and power.
What are the 2 main differences between capitalism and socialism?
Capitalism is based on individual initiative and favors market mechanisms over government intervention, while socialism is based on government planning and limitations on private control of resources. Left to themselves, economies tend to combine elements of both systems.
Capitalism exhibits private ownership, profit motive, minimal government intervention, competitive market, capital accumulation, class system, etc. Communism exhibits common ownership, central planning, no competition, classless society, etc.
In a communist economy, the factors of production are owned by the government. In a capitalist economy, production is determined by free market forces such as supply and demand. In a communist economy, the government determines which goods and services get produced and how much is available at any given time.