Skip to content

Ask an Academic

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us
Crowd of people

Contributions to sociology – Marx and Weber

September 24, 2019 by AskanAcademic.com

Primary to Karl Marx’s contributions to sociology are his attempts to explain capitalism via the social relations that he sees as giving...

Question

What are the similarities and differences between Karl Marx and Max Weber’s contributions to sociology?

Answer

Primary to Karl Marx’s contributions to sociology are his attempts to explain capitalism via the social relations that he sees as giving rise to it and undergirding it. At the foundation of his sociological approach is a theory of conflict between different social classes, drawn along lines according to their economic relationships to one another and contextualised in a historical perspective (historical materialism) which sees these relationships as the inevitable development of societies through various stages. In this way, his sociology is core to his explanations in the fields of economics and politics – they are closely interlinked.

Max Weber made numerous contributions to sociology, being one of the discipline’s prime influences early on. Arguably his most significant contributions to the subject were methodological rather than material; he is credited with defining ‘social action’ and with breaking from the positivist approach of explaining social phenomena objectively. He argued that social actions should be analysed by interpretation of individuals’ subjective meanings. In line with this, he believed that collectives in society could only be understood by reference to the actions of individuals, an approach known as ‘methodological individualism’.

The starkest contrasts between Marx and Weber are in their methodological approaches to the discipline. Marx admired the positivist project and hoped in his economic work to create mathematical proofs of his theories (although he never succeeded in this). Similarly, Marx characterised the historical development of societies as being deterministic and objective. By contrast, Weber’s approach to the development of societies was highly contextual; he believed that a wide range of factors determined the course of development, including religious and cultural sentiments, which are not uniform across societies. One thing they had in common was a belief in the stratification of societies between different social classes, albeit according to different criteria.

References

Post navigation

Previous Post:

What is the difference between conservation and preservation

Next Post:

Research in Sexual Health

Search Q&As

Categories

  • Art Media and Literature (74)
  • Business and Management (256)
  • Computing and ICT (14)
  • Construction and Engineering (35)
  • Education (90)
  • Environmental Sciences (2)
  • Finance and Economics (91)
  • Health (64)
  • Languages (12)
  • Law (88)
  • Mathematics and Statistics (2)
  • Medical Sciences (19)
  • Politics and International Relations (83)
  • Research Methodology (1)
  • Science (49)
  • Social Sciences (101)

Archives

Who We Are

Askanacademic.com is owned and operated by All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration No: 4964706. VAT Registration No: 842417633. Data Controller No: Z1821391.

Registered office:
Venture House
Cross Street
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 7PJ

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us

Legals

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Popular Categories

  • Business and Management
  • Law
  • Finance and Economics
  • Health
An an Academic Logo
© 2023 Ask an Academic | WordPress Theme by Superb Themes
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject
Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT