There were several schools of thought regarding various sociological theories and explanations of social action and societal changes. The most prominent school of thought was the classical school that includes Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Marx Weber among others.
Karl Marx in 1969 argued that men make their history but they do not make it as they please i.e. they do not make history under circumstances determined by them but those encountered, given, and transmitted from the past. For instance, the religion one follows is as a result of the society they were born in and we follow it just the way we found it or even the monetary system we use to pay debts is independent to the user.
We, therefore, do not make decisions as we like or desire but under certain structural constraints. Many classical sociologists, believed that society is divided at the micro and the macro levels where the individual forms the micro and the structure forms the macro level. This implied that society is external to us and it usually dictates the decisions we make.
Hegel argued that the state is autonomous and sovereign against other countries’ control. He further insisted that the state is divine through history in that it has absolute power and control over its subjects. For instance, he argued that if the wants an individual life, then the only way out is for that individual to give in the life. He said that war is inevitable to the state because the state lacks mechanisms available to an individual to solve its conflicts. He argued that the main purpose of the state is to protect its independence and integrity to maintain the social organization and allow for the “universal spirit” to develop in people’s life.
Materialism theory views the major economic and social transformations in society as a consequence of material forces. As various classes of people which Karl Marx classifies as landlords, middle class and the tenants struggle to improve their standards various economic and social changes occur. These changes occur because of passion and interest in material things that many people believe as the best way of life in their conscious. These class struggles occur as various classes engage in conflicts to know the means of production which are the source of the major income. To Karl Marx, class struggles are the effective ways by which social order in society is achieved.
On the issue of political economy, Marx used the labor theory of value and the theory of surplus of value to show the effects of industrial capitalism. He argued that labor acts as a major source of value to the industries. Many owners of the means of production use labor to produce in surplus to obtain profits hence labor in itself is a source of value to itself and others. He added that industrial capitalism is concerned with increased productivity and cutting on operating costs where many industries pay very little wages to the workers and yet overwork them to increase their production or gain surplus-value of the labor. He added capitalist form of government will collapse and be replaced by a socialist which was considerate of the peoples’ welfare and progress.
Further, Karl Marx argued that capitalism is there to oppress and exploit the majority helps us to understand the various problems associated with different kinds or forms of government. He argued that modernity is dominated by economic elements. These elements are meant to exploit the workers by overworking them in major industries for the owners to make enough profits.
Karl Marx continued to argue that the workers live on low wages so they are poor with little time left for leisure and recreational activities. To him, capitalism utilized workers’ leisure time to survive, recover and reproduce itself this is mainly because capitalism insists on high productivity and the oppression of workers to make big profits. He argued that in the modern world man is alienated from work and leisure where people have little time left for recreational activities due to extended working hours.
In addition, Marx concluded that modernity was synonymous with the emergence of capitalist, therefore, criticized its deformities like alienation, domination, false class consciousness, pauperization, and exploitation. Therefore, there was a need to change this form of government to a more favorable system. This analysis assists sociologists to understand the problems associated with capitalism. In addition, he argued due to the problems associated with capitalism at one point there will be worldwide strikes that will replace capitalism with socialism, a more accommodative form of government, hence to Marx, the bourgeois Class will determine the management or how the society runs its affairs.
Because many sociologists based their theories on the society they were familiar with and at different times, many sociology theories seem to contradict major issues, and real-life happenings, hence they do not assist in our understanding of the social organization. For instance, the Marx arguments that capitalism due to its adverse effects it will be replaced by socialism has been proven wrong by time. This is because many socialist and communist economies have collapsed and been replaced by capitalism. However, this does not form the basis for ignoring the Marx theories because others have been proven empirically true and have assisted in our understanding of social organization only that the theories do not apply universally but are relevant in some societies.
References
Hughes, J, Sharrock, W and martin, P. Understanding classical sociology; 2nd edition, New York: SAGE publications, (2003).