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Tayyaba Sahar Rauf

2015-02-0461
Power, State and Society (Assignment # 1)
While studying Durkheim, Weber, Marx and Simmel one finds overlapping and
coinciding views at some points and diverging at others. Even though they worked in slightly
different arenas but a basic unifying theme can be felt while studying their works and this theme
looks like a rope of tug of war that at time is forcibly yanked towards individualism and in a few
moments pressure increases from the society influencing individualist spheres. Following is a
discussion of some of the overlapping and diverging spheres of work.
Marxs estrangement of worker and Durkheims anomic division of labor refer to
somewhat similar ideas. In a society where capitalism dominates the way it functions, where
private ownership of modes of production determines the profit one can earn, and accumulation
of wealth in a few hands leads to separation of worker from his work. It can be categorized as the
estrangement of worker from the product, his work, his identity as a human being and
estrangement from the bourgeois (other members of the society). Worker finds product of his
own work as an alien and hostile object, most of the time the price of the product is so high that
he cannot even buy it for his own use. His work only means a means of survival for him that
means less creativity and personal involvement in the work. Worker finds other members of the
society who own means of the production as alien and hostile. He sees them enjoying the fruits
of his work. He feels himself separated from the entire system of society.
In his theory on anomie, Durkheim brings forth the two stages of anomic division of
labor among other things. First stage focuses on separation of owner from worker with no

hostility between owners and workers and the second stage takes into account the role of big
corporations which lead to greater separation between workers and owners and a state of
permanent hostility. In a capitalist society means and modes of production lies in the hands of
few that lead to greater separation and enmity between worker and owners. This trend can be
seen in theories of both Marx and Durkheim. As Durkheim talks about the estrangement of
worker and owners and enmity between them in terms of two stages in his theory of anomic
division of labor and Marx not only talks about this aspect but also covers other forms of
estrangement. As a worker who is working on the product cannot even afford the same product
leads to his separation from the product as well as his enmity towards those members (that also
include owners of the modes of production) who can afford it. Weber talks about work-play
dichotomy under the domain of bureaucracy. Work-play dichotomy refers to the separation of
personal and professional life and it would fall in the category of alienation from work in Marxs
ideology. The worker is only concerned about fulfilling the tasks of the job in other words he
takes the job only as a means of survival.
Blas attitude that emerges in the life of people living in a metropolis coincides with the
lack of values or anomie when there is a shift between organic and mechanical solidarity as
proposed by Durkheim. Life in a metropolis leads to an egoistic, self-centered attitude towards
life based upon the consideration of money as the most important value or treating it as the final
end. Anomie means rulelessness, a condition when there is no moral regulation in place. One can
say that Blas attitude is one form of anomie, as it perfectly describes the behavior of people in
the lack of a moral regulating force. It can be seen in the shift of people from rural to urban
areas. These individuals have no regulating moral force to restrict their behavior and so whatever
they do is egoistic and self-centered.

There is a considerable difference between the approaches of Durkheim and Weber as


they discuss individuals relation to society. One uses the external lens whereas other comes up
with internal sight to examine the relationship. As Weber puts it in the following words the
reason behind regular actions is the meaning which individuals attribute to their actions
(Mazman 69, Weber, 1968: 29). Durkheim talks about the unfettered wants of the people, and
societys role in controlling these wants. In other words Durkheim is focusing on the society to
shape the role of individual; and whatever part an individual plays is not limited to his/her own
psychological or biological needs, it also bears the societal effect.
Simmel and Marx both talk about the quantification of human values in terms of money
but their approach is slightly different. First considers money as a potent tool to objectify the
value of labor whereas later understands the implication of quantifying human values calls it the
need of the hour of a modern commercial setting.
At very few points one can find explicit coincidence among these but a pattern of implicit
similarities can be traced in various shades of their works.

Bibliography
Mazman, Ibrahim. "MAX WEBER AND EMILE DURKHEIM: A COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS ON THE THEORY OF SOCIAL ORDER AND THE METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
<http://www.aku.edu.tr/aku/dosyayonetimi/sosyalbilens/dergi/x1/i.mazman.pdf>.
"Simmel's Metropolis and Mental Life - Surviving the City." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web.
23 Feb. 2014. <http://saesha.hubpages.com/hub/Metropolis-and-Mental-Life>.

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