Sociology
Nazi Germany and how it would be analyzed by Karl Marx, Max Weber and/or Emile Durkheim
Max Weber, born in 1864, is one of the best-known and most popular scholars of 'sociology', as well as of 'economic work'. One of his best contributions to the cause of economics as well as to sociology is his work entitled "Vertstehen" or what is also known as the theory of 'Interpretative Sociology' and his thinking on 'positivism'. Weber's theory of Verstehen is often seen as being very controversial and questionable. His view is that any research that is connected to history or sociology or economics must be approached with a particular idea or concept, or what is called a 'conceptual apparatus'. This apparatus was referred to be Weber as the 'ideal type', meaning that when an individual needs to understand or comprehend a particular sociological phenomenon, the various 'actions' of the different participants of the phenomena, and not stop at merely describing the phenomenon in itself. (Max Weber, 1864-1920)
However, the problem here is that one cannot actually comprehend interpretation unless and until the individual attempts to classify that particular within the phenomenon as belonging to that previously decided upon 'ideal type'. This was probably the reason that Max Weber described the 'Ideal Type' of behavior in four broad categories. The first ideal behavior was described as the 'rational means to rational ends', the second one as being 'the rational means to irrational ends', the third one was described, as being 'guided by emotion' and the fourth one was the 'guided by custom or habit'. Max Weber himself acknowledged the fact that utilizing the 'ideal type' for describing his theories was essentially abstract, but stated that it was an important means of understanding the various social phenomena that involved human behavior in all its intricacies, wherein an ideal type would help classify this intricate behavior into several ideal types, and this in turn would make it much easier to understand and interpret various social phenomena. (Max Weber, 1864-1920)
It is important at this point to understand the person that Max Weber was. Born into a household with strictly Protestant views, and with seven other siblings competing for his parents' attention, Max Weber was constantly striving for individuality and tried to oppose authority, both parental as well as political authority in the form of Kaiser's Germany. Weber was essentially brought up in a culturally bourgeois household where quite a few politicians and academicians were frequent visitors and houseguests. There was however growing tension between his parents and this affected the young Weber deeply. In fact, it is said that Weber suffered from psychic torment at his household, and this meant that whatever he did and wherever he went, Weber was first and foremost 'his own man', meaning that he was a free and independent thinker who was not bound by any political ideals. He formulated his own thoughts and his own theories. It was in this manner that he was able to write his famous 'Verstehen'. (Max Weber, the Person)
In the four means of actions that he describes men in general will take, Weber explains by an example the 'purposeful rationality' that is exhibited by an engineer who has been given the responsibility of building a bridge across anything. This individual is using the best-known rational means of uniting one end to the other end, or means to the end. This type of value-oriented rationality is seen as being an innate striving towards a more substantive goal that is in effect pursued with certain rational means. This does not mean however that this fact is in itself the actual ration; for example, when the goal is asceticism or holiness, then the means to achieving this goal would be to lead a life of ascetic self-denial, wherein the means would be value oriented and would lead to the striving towards a substantive goal. Affective action is seen, by Max Weber, as being a part of the emotional state of a participant or an 'actor' wherein the mental state is evaluated rather than the assessment of the means and the ends towards achieving it. (Max Weber, the Person)
It is often said that Max Weber was always attempting to analyze and understand the larger structures and maybe certain traditions that sought to and served to affect the lives of individuals, and how this factor changed over time, and space. He has stated that the economic order, as it is known, is generally of great importance in determining not only...
In those cases, "deviance" from socially accepted values would be considered a positive response rather than "delinquency" in an objective sense. Alternate ideas, such as differential association formulated by Sutherland (Pfohl 1994), in particular, demonstrate that even in contemporary American society, social values are extremely subjective and that specific populations - most notably, incarcerated prisoners - form their own societal norms and shared values that contradict those of larger society and
Sociology Cooley and Mead's theories on the process of socialization as opposed to that of Freud Charles Cooley and George Herbert Mead are proponents of a similar theory of socialization. Cooley uses the metaphor of the looking glass to explain how a child uses others' perception of himself to understand himself and develop an identity. According to Cooley, each of us closely monitors how others react to us and adjust our behavior
The emphasis on social stability, as seen in many institutions' suspicion regarding social change, can lead to the perpetuation of social inequality. In some instances, there is even a stronger link between religion and power structures. The caste system in India privileges the rights of the priestly class. However, political leaders in India have also formed strong ties with the Brahmin class. These ties serve to "legitimize" the power in
Holocaust is a catastrophe orchestrated by Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. It was an organized and systematic murder with the outcome being the brutal killing of approximately six million innocent Jews during the Word War II (Longerich 2007 p. 29). State involvement in the murder complicates the whole affair as it was contrary to expectations. This was in deep contrast by all standards given the reality among
One of the critiques of this theory is that it assumes that groups coalesce or converge in an environment which is normless. While the theory is suited to an explanation of spontaneous group formation, it does not address the fact that movements such as fascism are grounded on prior normative formations and value systems that lead to the collective behavior. At the same time it must be acknowledged that this
conditions does hostility towards science arise? According to Merton in Science and the Social Order, there are two conditions in which general hostility is focused upon the discipline of science. The first is the logical idea that "the results of methods of science are inimical to the satisfaction of important values" (p. 255). Essentially, this view holds that by its very nature scientific views are hostile to prevailing cultural
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