Understanding Social Theory: Explaining Human Interactions & Forming Hypotheses - Essay Sample

Introduction

Social theory is the arguments, ideas, hypotheses, and explanatory speculations about the formation and development of human societies over time or the disappearance of human structures (Fay, 2014). Sociologists are studying social events, human interactions, and patterns, as they develop different theories in understanding how things work. Social theory helps in explaining aspects of human interactions and the formation of a hypothesis. For instance, suicide is usually perceived as an individual phenomenon, but Durkheim had an interest in studying the social factors influencing suicide. In his study of social solidarity, he hypothesized that; the variation in the rate of suicide could be explained by differences in religion (Fay, 2014). He collected a large amount of data on the Europeans who died of suicide and confirmed that it is factually religion-based. According to Durkheim, the probability of committing suicide was higher with Protestants than the Catholics who lived in Durkheim's society. Durkheim believed that society greater compared to the number of its parts. He affirmed that people's behavior was not a collective behavior; therefore studying the behavior of a collective people was completely different from studying individual behavior (Halewood, 2014). According to Durkheim, collective conscience was the communal beliefs, attitude, and morals of society.

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In the understanding of what makes people's behavior, Durkheim said, "If I do not submit to the conventions of society, I do not provoke the social isolation in which I am kept..." (Durkheim 1895). He also suggested that social integrations were a significant factor in social life. He correlated the society to the organs of a living organism, where every organ plays a critical role in maintaining life (Halewood, 2014). Therefore, socially deviants are important as the castigation of such confirms the formation of cultural norms and values. He emphasized the concept by saying, "a crime is a crime because we condemn it" (Durkheim 1893). According to him, social components are the social facts; thus, the social forces were real and did not exist within individuals.it is worth noting that, Durkheim was not generally satisfied with the society. He focused on the cultural glue which holds society failed and that people were separating (Fay, 2014). He suggested that mechanical solidarity was substituted with organic solidarity, which was a social order based on recognition of the economic and social changes (Halewood, 2014). For instance, in a capitalist society, labor division got specialized until people could do different things. Capitalist society allowed people to coexist instead of punishing those who do not conform to the common values of society.

Industrial Revolution

According to Karl Marx, the industrial revolution was a fundamental phase in the evolution of man as he approaches the ultimate society he projected. In his perspective, industrialization was merely a further step in the dehumanization of labor and a significant step to the revolutionary processes he forecasted (Fuchs, 2014). He suggested that a more developed country in terms of industrialization would demonstrate that to underdeveloped countries. The feudal in the agrarian society exploited the poor through enslaving them, and the procedures of industrialization allowed capitalists to acquire wealth using the higher productive economic system while trading off the interest of the poor in the society. He proposed that acquiring the new force of production requires a change in the mode of production; hence, men would earn a living and change their social relations. Karl Marx believed that industrialization was a different form of labor exploitation, but can change the relationship between capital and labor (Fay, 2014). Karl Marx viewed the history of the economy through a zero game where capitalists gained through slavery and exploitation of the poor. The industrial revolution is a natural, as well as a critical phase in the evolution of man (Fuchs, 2014). Industrial evolution played a crucial role in developing a more productive and educated mankind. More imperatively, .industrialization is dehumanizing and more exploitative.

On the other hand, as Karl Marx viewed the industrial revolution as a phase in the evolution of man, Marx Weber focused on the rationalization of the society because of the industrial revolution and the way it influences humanity. According to Weber, rationalization was viewed in three perspectives; like the transformation of the society to bureaucracy, individual cost-benefit, and the opposite of perceiving reality through disenchantment (Halewood, 2014). He perceived rationalization as the determinant of the society because the bureaucracy was the critical form of institutional governance; he suggested that bureaucracy would explode and rule the society. Weber did not have anything to substitute bureaucracy and that there would be no way for leakage. Unlike Karl Marx's idea of exploitation of the poor by the rich through slavery and cheap labor, Weber viewed the concept as a miserable outcome that would impact people's happiness because they would function in the society with strict rules and norms without being flexible (Halewood, 2014). Significantly, Karl Marx perceived industrial revolution as a concept that led to the exploitation of the poor through cheap labor, while Weber thought that it was industrial revolution led to the rationalization, where the society is governed set rules.

Functional Theory and Conflict Socialist TheoyEmile Durkheim is a functional theorist; he used Spence's theory while describing how society changed, and people lived over time (Halewood, 2014). He believed that society is a cumbersome system of interdependence and interrelations, which would maintain the capacity, as he suggests that society is held together by shared language, values, and symbols. He believed that the study of society requires the sociologist to surpass people and focus more on social facts like laws, values, morals, custom beliefs, among other facts which rule social life. More importantly, in a healthy society; the stability of the society is maintained by a collaborative function of all parts of the society (Fay, 2014). Durkheim believed that people could form the society, and every social fact can serve the functions of society. For instance, one social fact like law can be utilized in protecting the society against violence, but another social fact can be used in punishing criminal offenders in the society, as well as using another fact in preserving public health in the society. Durkheim perceived every social fact in society as a fundamental unit to society.

Conflict socialist perceives society as a crumble for limited resources (Fuchs, 2014). Weber takes the macroeconomic approach, which views society as a composition of individuals in diverse social classes who crumble for resources such as employment, food, education, house, and leisure. Social institutions like education, religion, and government reflect competition though inequalities and disparity of the social structure (Halewood, 2014). For instance, a group of individuals can obtain more resources than others and exploring their powers to influence and maintain social institutions. Additionally, Weber also believed that economic inequalities and political inequalities would lead to conflict in society. Similarly, individuals would fight to have the political power to own more economic resources than others. Weber stipulates that various group of people is diversely affected based on race, gender, and education in society. He further noted that individuals' reactions to inequality are determined by the variation of classes and the rates of their social mobility (Fay, 2014). Finally, the reaction is affected by the perceptions of the legitimacy of the authorities.

References

Fay, B. (2014). Social theory and political practice (RLE social theory). Routledge.

Fuchs, C. (2014). Digital Labour and Karl Marx. Routledge.

Halewood, M. (2014). Rethinking the Social through Durkheim, Marx, Weber and Whitehead. Anthem Press.