The Early Sociologists

Topic 

The Early Sociologists

Instructions 

Think of the classical social thinkers that were discussed in Chapter 1: Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber.  I would like you to:

1.) Briefly summarize each thinker’s theory and contribution to sociology.

2.) Explain what you believe to be the strengths and weaknesses of each.

3.) Explain whether or not you think all and/or any of these theories are useful in today’s world.  Can any of them (or all of them) be useful in solving our social problems today? Are any obsolete?

4.) Choose a social problem (such as poverty, crime, drug use, familial breakdown) and attempt to use the perspective of one of these thinkers to explain the cause(s) of the problem.

Answer Preview 

Emile Durkheim came up with social structure theories such as functionalism that explain anomie as well as the division of labor. It is apparent that these theories were based on the concept of values, societal norms, or social facts and structures. According to Emile Durkheim’s theory, functionalism is one of the concepts that are defined by three integral elements. Emile Durkheim made a great contribution to sociology because he concentrated on how it is that a community can create and function.  One of the strengths of Emile Durkheim’s theory is that the shared culture explained by the theory offers a framework permitting people to cooperate and do things like defining their objectives. Nevertheless, this viewpoint can be seen as a weakness because it appears somewhat naïve to presume that there is consensus.

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