Sociological and Psychological Perspectives on Society: Marx, Durkheim, Freud, and Tylor
Overview
This paper compares and contrasts the theoretical perspectives of Marx/Engels, Émile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, and Edward Tylor on the nature of society and social cohesion. While Marx/Engels emphasized class conflict and labor alienation as binding forces, Durkheim focused on social facts and integration. The paper extends the analysis to Freud and Tylor's critiques of religion as a psychological and spiritual phenomenon.
What this essay covers
- Marx/Engels and Durkheim's theories on social integration and cohesion
- Durkheim's concept of social facts and their coercive power
- Marx/Engels on class conflict, labor division, and worker alienation
- Freud's psychoanalytic perspective on religion as unconscious need and illusion
- Tylor's anthropological view of religion as belief in spiritual beings
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Question One
Marx/Engel and Emile Durkheim had theories that were interesting concerning societies. Marx/Engel and Durkheim understood the importance of having an integrated society. Marx/Engel and Emile Durkheim have had a significant role in the understanding of theories relating to sociology. Sociological theory is essential as it is used to explain several things on how society is bound together. Marx/Engel and Emile Durkheim had varied ideas on what brought society together, but to some extent, their thoughts were the same. Mile Durkheim was of the idea that society had a multifaceted kind of system of co-dependent parts and consistent parts that work hand in hand to bring stability (Mestrovic, 2017). Durkheim believed that social facts held society in oneness. Durkheim was of the idea that social facts comprised of acting, feeling, and having thoughts outside from one individual and exhibiting coercive power from that individual. The things could be made up of norms, values, rules, and social institutions. Such things control the life of a person.
On the other hand, Marx/Engel believed that the separation of class and labor was enough to bring social stratification that led to alienation. According to Marx/Engel, the above were important when it came to essential elements within society. Marx stood with the idea that class conflict is active and can be found in every society since time immemorial. On society and matters of alienation, Marx was aware that competition witnessed in workers made them different from the other (Mestrovic, 2017).