David Emile Durkheim was born in Epinal, France

on April 15, 1858. Unlike Marx, whose youth was

spent during the tumultuous first half of the
nineteenth century, by the time Durkheim was a
young man France was experiencing one of its
longest governments, the Third Republic (1870-
1940). He would spend his entire life living and
working in France. Intelligent and productive,
Durkheim would do much to create and
institutionalize the new discipline of sociology in
France. His theories were:
Functionalism is a structural-consensus theory.
Functionalism is a framework in sociology that sees society as similar to a
biological organism, with interrelated parts that have needs and functions, and
structures that ensure that these parts work together to create a well-functioning
society.
Durkheim is often considered to be a functionalist; however, he still understood
that it was necessary to explain the reasons why particular social structures
emerged historically.
Durkheim believed that too much freedom is bad for individuals. Too much
freedom — or a lack of clear guidance about what is right or wrong can create a
sense of confusion and uncertainty about an individual’s place in the world, or
what Durkheim calls “anomie.”
In response, Durkheim argues that societies have a need to create social solidarity
in order to give the people within them a sense of purpose and to teach them how
to behave appropriately.
Division of Labor
In his book, The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim attempted to determine
what the basis of social solidarity in society is and how this has changed overtime.
This book began Durkheim’s study of how society is an entity of its own beyond
the mere sum of individuals.
In Durkheim’s view, there are two types of social solidarity — how society holds
together and what ties an individual to society. These are mechanical and organic
solidarity. In typically traditional societies where the division of labor is limited
(such as the Amish), there is mechanical solidarity.
Meanwhile, modern societies with a highly developed division of labor have
organic solidarity. Durkheim argued that the division of labor itself creates organic
solidarity because of the mutual needs of individuals in modern society.
As a consequence, each person within the society also received recognition of their
rights or contributions within the collective (Grabb, 1980)
On one hand, the specialization and highly developed division of labor allows
individuals to develop their own consciousness. On the other hand, there are also
moral ideas that encourage people to be skilled broadly to benefit society as a
whole.
He attempts to look at morality through the realm of studying society and its
changes. In this form, morality becomes a series of social facts, and data from
society must be obtained, this being used to discover causes. These data consist of
observable, empirical forms of data in the form of laws, institutions, norms, and
behavior (Merton, 1934).
He considered systems of law to be the externalization of the inner core of social
reality (solidarity), and predicts that, as the inner core of this system undergoes
qualitative changes from “mechanical” to “organic” solidarity, there would be a
shift in the type of legal systems as a proportion of the body of all legal works.

Anomie
Broadly, anomie is an abnormal form of the division of labor where there is too
little regulation to encourage cooperation between people who have different social
functions.
In this condition, a society’s previously common norms and values disappear or
disintegrate.
This results in a society in which some groups no longer fit in, despite doing so in
the past. This typically causes people to feel a lack of belonging and a sense of
disconnection from society (Marks, 1974).
Beyond The Division of Labor, Durkheim elaborated on anomie in his 1897 book,
Suicide. Durkheim, studying suicide rates among protestants and Catholics in 19th-
century Europe, found that the rate of suicide was higher among protestants.
Durkheim theorized that protestant culture places a higher value on individualism
than Catholics, making them less likely to develop close communal ties and, in
turn, increasing their susceptibility to suicide (Marks, 1974).

Applications and Legacy

Durkheim helped to define and establish the field of sociology as an academic
discipline. He managed to distinguish sociology from philosophy, psychology,
economics, and other social sciences by arguing that society was its own kind of
entity.
He argued that the characteristics that make societies unique were the so-called
“features of collective experience” — those which cannot be reduced to features of
the individuals who make it up (Luke’s, 2015).
Durkheim believed that the beliefs, practices, and consciousness of the collective
in society are coercive on individuals as actors.
That is to say, Durkheim has a structuralism approach that considers social
structures to exert a strong influence on social action. Individuals, in the view of
Durkheim, do not act on a purely individual basis. Instead, they have obligations
and duties, and generally act in ways that are strongly influenced by the structures
that they are part of.
 Karl Marx, in full Karl Heinrich Marx, (born May
5, 1818, Trier, Rhine province, Prussia [Germany]
—died March 14, 1883, London, England),
revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist.
He published (with Friedrich Engels) Manifest der
Kommunistischen Partei (1848), commonly known
as The Communist Manifesto, the most celebrated
pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement.
He also was the author of the movement’s most
important book, Das Kapital. These writings and
others by Marx and Engels form the basis of the
body of thought and belief known as Marxism.
Marx’s Theory of Capitalist Crisis:
Marxian analysis of the law of motion of a capitalist society brings out the
conclusion that capitalism must dig its own grave because of certain inherent
tendencies in the order which makes the occurrence of a crisis inevitable.
The first proposition of Marx is the division of capitalist society into two classes—
the capitalists and the workers. The second proposition is the labor theory of value
which underlines the concept of exploitation of the workers. The conclusion which
emerges out of these two propositions is the ever-widening gap between the
capitalists and the workers.
Overproduction and under-consumption are, in fact, the obverse and reverse of the
same coin. Attracted by their initial success in the acquisition of profits, the
entrepreneurs’ goon investing their savings. Little do they realize that poverty of
the masses imposes a great restriction on their capacity to consume.
Karl Marx conceived capitalist crises as those catastrophic events which are
organic in the process of capitalist development. The capitalist society moves in
cyclical manner with upswings and downswings and periodic crises.
The three volumes of Capital and three volumes of Theories of Surplus Values
have references regarding the problem of repeated crises, but “there is nowhere to
be found anything approaching a complete or systematic treatment of the subject in
Marx’ writing”. There are scattered notes on the crisis, which have been extended
by fellow Marxists and those notes have been systematized into complete theories
of crises.
To Marx the following three theories of crises are attributed:
1. Law of Falling Tendency of Rate of Profit.
2. Crises arising from Disproportionality.
3. Crises arising from Under-consumption.
 Talcott Parsons was one of the most important American
sociologists of the 20th century. He is the father of
structuralist-functionalism, and he is credited for
introducing European sociology to the US by translating
important texts of European scholars. He started
teaching economics and, later, sociology at Harvard
University. Parsons got to know the works of Émile
Durkheim and Vilfredo Pareto during his time at
Harvard as economics instructor. They had a great
influence on him. Including their work in his book, The
Structure of Social Action (1937), drove Parsons closer
and closer to the sociological perspective he became most associated with;
functionalism.

Talcott Parsons' theories of Functionalism

Parsons’ sociology is based on a general theoretical system rather than on smaller,
empirical studies. He was known as a functionalist theorist; as such, his influential
work spans many areas within sociology, including stratification, the family,
education and religion. Let's go through Parsons' ideas now.
According to Parsons, stratification is an inevitable and necessary part of society.
He believed in effective role allocation, which meant that all individuals in society
get roles that were best suited to their abilities, work ethic and qualifications. They
were also rewarded for their work according to the importance of their jobs.
Parsons believed that people competed on equal grounds, and they could achieve
high status and high rewards if they worked hard and had talent, no matter where
they came from. As such, he believed that society was meritocratic.
His ideas on role allocation and stratification were later criticised by many
sociologists, who argued that individuals do not compete on equal grounds and
socio-economic status determines one’s status in society much more than their
work ethic and abilities.
 R.K Merton full name Robert King Merton was an
American sociologist took birth on July of 4th, 1910 and
passed away on February 23rd, 2003. His majority of life
was spent as a professor at Columbia University. He was
awarded many awards regarding the contribution he
made in the field of sociology of science. He formulated
many terms which are till this date in use and have
gained much popularity such as role model, role strain or
self-fulfilling prophecy and much more.

Theories of the Middle Range:

In this theory, he talks about sociological theories must be made. He says that
sociological theories must look after all the empirical facts and figures and on that
basis, one should do his or her study. He also brought competition to Parsonian
sociology. Merton always said that sociological theories must not derive from
doubts and incomplete information to come on conclusion one must arrange all the
facts and combine them and then provide the conclusion.
Middle range theories must look into all the empirical facts and do proper
sociological research. Here everything revolves around facts and therefore said to
be believed easily as it is in the form of facts. Theories of middle range are
concise, concentrated and complete and are universally accepted. It has the
capability to talk about those issues which are complex in nature in a very simple
and understandable manner. It explains every topic without creating any doubt in
people’s mind and therefore said to be understandable and simple in nature. It acts
as a guide to the sociological research.
Clarifying functional research:
Merton says that anything that is related to the central orientation of functionalism
must be later studied by looking after its consequences on different structures.
Merton studies society by studying the cultural system of society and structures
and decides on how well they are integrated or not. Every social system requires
different function in society.
Merton believes that every society needs some cultural beliefs and practices and
these are important for both society and individuals. Every structure present in
society must have the feeling of integration and unification.
Dysfunctions: it consists of three main issues of functionalism
Functional unity of society: here he talks about the harmony and unity of society.
He says that not all societies are well unified and have some difficulties. Everyone
does not enjoy same opportunities which lead to disturbed society. There is no
society which does not have its issues. Merton says that civil war is an example of
not well-integrated society.
Universal functionalism: in this, he discusses that not all norms and ideals are an
advantage for all. He says that there are certain things present in society which are
advantageous to one and disadvantageous to other. That is why he says what is
accepted by one may not be accepted by others. He says poverty may be good for
rich people as they will get the change to enjoy the benefits and maintain their
wealth throughout their lives.
Indispensability: he says that is it really that each society performs one defined
function? Merton firmly believed that there are some institutions which can
perform same functions as other institutions and does not have one specific
function.
Unanticipated consequences and Manifest and Latent function:
When we talk about functions we know what are our intended consequences and
probably not aware of our unintended consequences. So that is why most if the
sociologist tries to study these unintended consequences. For instance many times
we plan and take action on it but there might be some consequences we have to
face or we can say that plan does not go according to our plan.
the manifest function here people are aware or expecting these consequences and
in latent function, one is not sure or aware of the consequences he or she might be
facing. Merton pays much attention to latent functions to understand the society.
Functional alternatives: Merton talks about functionalist and society. He says that
many functionalists believe that every society has its own functions to be going on
in society. He always says that it is not completely right to say that each institution
has one specific function rather other institutions can also perform certain
functions of other institution. So he says functional alternatives are possible by
each institution and one institution can perform different functions.
Theory of deviance:
Merton discusses three aspects and relationship between culture, structure, and
anomie.
He says that culture is necessary for guiding one’s behavior as it acts as values for
society and groups. Social structure showcases the social relationship of people in
society and how they live. Anomie means when there is no correspondence
between people and norms it is known as the state of normlessness.
Anomie and Merton’s structural-functional idea of deviance:
He tries to show that there were differences occurring in cultural aspirations and
legal way to achieve these goals. This theory is mostly used in the case of
criminology which leads to much on deviance.
Conformity means when the goals in society are achieved with the means which
are accepted by all. Innovation means when one achieves goals through the means
which are not acceptable by society. Ritualism is when the means of goals are
accepted but goals are penalized. Retreatism is when both the goals and means are
not accepted by society. Rebellion, therefore, comes as a rejection of the goals and
means as well as there alternatives are also rejected. Merton believes in case of
innovation and ritualism anomie is pure and in both, we can see differences or
intervals between means and goals.
Merton was greatly influenced by Talcott Parsons and Pitirim Sorokin. Much of his
topics were grasped from Parsons Interest. Merton is said to be one the most
important sociologist who have contributed in modern days sociology and is also
said to be the founder of it.