Compare and contrast the theories and methods of Emile Durkheim and Max WeberWord下载.docx
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CompareandcontrastthetheoriesandmethodsofEmileDurkheimandMaxWeber@#@CompareandcontrastthetheoriesandmethodsofEmileDurkheimandMaxWeberregardingsocialbehaviour@#@ @#@@#@1.Introduction@#@ItiswellknownthatEmileDurkheim(1858-1917)andMaxWeber(1864-1920)aretwoofthemostsignificantphilosophersandsociologists.However,theybelongtotwodifferentschools.EmileDurkheimisanextremelyimportantFrenchsociologistwhobelievespositivism.Hecompletedhismagnumopus,“onsuicide”and“therulesofsociologicalmethod”,whichhaveaprofoundeffectonthesociology.Heusedscientificmethodincludingcollecting,analyzingdataanddiscussingthosedatetostudythesociety(Hynes,1975).Ontheotherhand,Weberbelievesinterpretivismandhespenthisentireadultlifetostudythesociety.Hethoughttohaveknowledgeistogivemeaningtothesocialworldandinterpretthesocialphenomenainsomeway(Stones,2011).Hisfamousmethodofstudyingthesocietyis“idealtypes”and“verstehen”(Goldman,1993).Asbothofthemarechiefdelegatesintheirrespectiveareasofschools,combingtheirthoughtsandviewsofthesociologywillgainourknowledgeoftheworldmorefully.Thispaperwillshowthedifferencesbetweentheirobjectsoftheirstudyandprinciplesofsocialresearchmethodology.Inaddition,thisessaywillillustratetheirtheoriesbelongcollectivismandindividualismrespectivelyandtake“liberty”forexampletocontrasttheiropinions.Thispaperhasthreesections.Thefirsttwosectionsaretoshowthetwomen’stheoriesandmethods.Thethirdsectionwillcomparetheirtheoriesandmethods.@#@2.Durkheim’positivismtheoryandmethods@#@Inthe1880sand1890s,theintellectualclimatewasdominatedbypositivismandpositivephilosophy(Prager,1981).Positivistsadvocaterealism.Theyregardthepositivismasthecoreoftheirstudiesandresearch.Realistsfocusonwhatpeoplecanbeobservedandwhatreallyexistsintheworld(Stones,2011).Duringthatperiod,positivistsbelievedtheycouldstudythesocialworldasthewaytostudynaturalworld(Prager,1981).Durkheimwasoneoftherepresentsinpositivism.In1987,hecompletedhisclassicalwriting,“therulesofsociologicalmethod”.Whenhedidresearchonthissocialphenomenon,heselectedstatisticsonsuiciderates.ThenDurkheimanalyzedthesedataandlookedatthedifferencesinsuicideratesamongcountriesanddifferentcategoriesofpeople.Inthisissue,heusedscientificmethodstosolvethesocialproblems.@#@AnotheroneofthemostfamouswritingsofDurkheimis“onsuicide”.Inthispublication,hethoughtthesocialstructuresincludinginstitutions,traditionsandbeliefs,patternsofbehaviourexistedindividuallyintheworld.Inanotherwords,these‘socialfacts’alreadyexistedwhenwewereborn-wewerebornintoanalreadyexistingsociety(Emirbayer,1996).Generalspeaking,socialfactswerecollectiveofacting,thinking,orfeeling.Mostofthemarekindofobligationforus(Morrsion,1990).Somepeoplemaythinktheycanchoosewhattolearn,howtothinkandhowtoact.However,Durkheimclamedthatpeoplejustfollowedthepatternsofthesocietytheyareliving.Whattheywanttobeandhowtolivehadbeendecidedintheirearlylives.Ourexpectationhasbeeninfusedbyourexperienceoflife(Hynes,1975).Peoplehavesomesimilarbehaviorsfromgenerationtogeneration.Atthesametime,thesestructuresalsohavea‘coercivepower’overtheindividual–wearecoercedintofollowingtheestablishedrulesofoursociety(Morrsion,1990).Thatistosay,thesocialfactshaveboth“pull”and“push”effectsonus.Forexample,ifamanbreaksthelawbymurderanotherperson,hewillfacetoarrest,trail,andimprisonmentorexecution.Atthesametime,ingeneral,peoplewillnotbreakthelawbecausethepunishmentsforcedhimtodarenotcommitacrime.@#@3.Weber’sinterpretivetheoryandmethods@#@Weberisoneofthemostfamoussociologistswhoarebelongedtotheinterpretivetradition.Interpretivistsadvocatetheidealism.Unlikepositivists,idealistsbelievethenaturalworldandsocialworldisfundamentallydifferent(Stones,2011).Intheirviewsoftheobjectinthesocialworld,theobjectsofresearchofthesocialsciencesincludingpeopleandtheirinstitutionsarefundamentallydifferentfromthoseofthenaturalsciencesbecausehumanbeingshaveself-consciousnessandreflection,andhumanscanreflectonthemselvesandtheirsituations(Stones,2011).Weberdidbelievethatsocialbehaviorcouldhavecausalexplanations(Mcintosh,1977).Thatwastosay,eventhoughthesocialworldwassocomplicatedanditwashardtousegeneralandcommonrulestounderstandthosediversitysocialbehaviors,thesesocialphenomenahavetheirownreasonswhichcouldbeinterpreted.Furthermore,Weberclaimedthatweshouldunderstandthehistoricalandsocialbackgroundbeforestudyingasocialphenomenon(Goldman,1993).Forexample,ifanAmericansociologistjudgesthesocialbehaviorandeventsinIndiabyAmericanvalues,theresultswillbehardtounderstandbytheIndiansortotallyunreasonable.InsteadtheyshouldseektounderstandbehavioraccordingtothevaluesofIndianculture.@#@Webercreatedaspecialmethodcalled“verstehen”tointerpretthesocialbehaviors.Verstehenmeanstheinterpretiveunderstandingofsocialaction(Goldman,1993).Tobespecific,versteheninvolvesanunderstandingofwhatsomeoneisthinking,whichneedsanunderstandingoftheculturethatpersonlivesin.inWeber’sopinion,humanbehaviorwaspurposeful.Peoplealwayshadagoalandmadeeffortstoachievethegoalsuchasestablishinganinstitution.Wecanfindandinterpretthemeaningofthesocialphenomenathoughexploringitssocialbackgroundandessence.Itiscommonlybelievedthatsocialscientistsshouldestablishsystematizedmethodsandsolutionstodoresearch.OneoftheimportanttoolsWeberusedwascalled“idealtypes”.Itcouldbegenerallyusedtostudythecomplexsocialbehavior.Itsuggeststhatweshouldremoveallourvalues,motions,opinions.Thereforeidealtypescreateaframeworkoftheanalyticalmethodwhichissimilar“Utopia”(Prager,1981).Itprovidesdifferentkindsofextreme“ideal”conditions.FromWeber’sidealtypes,wecanseethedifferencebetweenWeberandothersociologists.Weberfocusesontheessenceofthesocialspiritinsteadofthesocialstructure.Webertriedtouseidealtypestolayalogicalfoundationofthesocialscience.Idealtypesshouldbeestablishedafteranalyzinglotsofsocialphenomenasyntheticallyandsystematically.@#@@#@4.Comparisonandcontrast@#@FewcomparisonshavebeendonesystematicallybetweenDurkheimandWeberbeforebecauseeachofthetwomendidnotconnecteachother’sstudydirectly(Tiryakian,1966citedinParger,1981).Bendix(1978)alsosuggestedthateachofthemhaddifferentagendaintheirsocialworkssoitwashardtofindoutthecluestocomparetheiropinionsdirectly.However,bothofthembelongsdifferentschools.Thispaperwillshowthecomparisonbetweentheirobjectofstudyandtheprincipleoftheiranalyticalmethod.@#@4.1Theobjectoftheirstudy@#@IntheDurkheim’sbook,“therulesofsociologicalmethod”,hefocusedhisobjectofstudyassocialfactsandsocialstructure.Heclaimedthatallthesocialbehavioralpatterns,nomattertheywerestableorunstable,oncetheycouldlimitindividual’saction,arecalledsocialfacts.Thatistosay,allthepeoplecouldnotavoidtheinfluenceofthesocialfactseventhoughtheeffectsofthesocialfactshaddifferenteffectsonindividualsinthecomplexsocialworld.Onthecontrary,Weber’sociologywascalledunderstandingsociology.Inhisdefinitionofthesociology,hethoughtthatsociologywasasciencethattriedtounderstandandinterpretsocialactions;@#@findthelogicalandcausalrelationshipsbetweendifferentsocialactions.Accordingtothisdefinition,wecouldseetheobjectofWeber’ssocialstudywassocialaction.ComparingwithWeber’ssocialactions,theviewoftheDurkheimwasmacroscopic.Accordingtothis,itisclearthatDurkheim’theoryisobjective.Ontheotherhand,Weberbelievedonlyindividualswerereal.Theprocessofthesocialstudyshouldbetoresearchsocialactionsofpeople,understandingthemeaningofsocialactionsandinterpretingcausation.SoWebertreatedtheunderstandingandinterpretingasthemosttwoimportanttasksinhissocialwork.@#@4.2Theprincipleofsocialresearchmethodology@#@ThemostbasicruleintheDurkheim’ssocialmethodologywastotreatthesocialfactsasobjectivefacts(Hynes,1975).Durkheimemphasizedthatthefactsarepriortothoughts.Inotherwords,socialfactsexistedbeforebeingdefinedandjudged.Inhisideas,sociologistsshouldobservetheessenceofthesesocialfactsdirectlybeforeeliminatingtraditionalandgeneralvalues.However,Webercreatedanothermethodwhichwascalledidealtypestostudythesociety.Hethoughttheobjectofresearchhaditsownpeculiarityandsubjectiveintention.Inhisopinion,ifwewantedsocialsciencetobereliable,socialscientistsshouldestablishasetofaccurateandprecisesystemofthesociologyasthenaturalscience.Thepurposeoftheidealtypeswastoincreaseobjectivityanddecreasesubjectiverandomness.ThemethodIdealtypeswaswidelyacceptedandavailabletoallthesocialschools(Mcintosh,1977).Soindividualsociologistcouldhaveacommonsystemofstudytounderstandandanalyzethesociety.Inthisway,socialscientistscouldremovethebarrierofcommunicationanddifferentvaluestodevelopthesocialscience.Similarly,Durkheimhadthesameideathatsocialmustgetridofallhisownpredictionswhendoingthesocia