Kendall Walker

Dr. King
History of Social Thought
10/13/23
Journal #1 Assignment
Fight Club follows a depressed, unnamed main character who suffers from insomnia and
works as an automobile recall specialist. During a business trip, the unnamed main character
meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden and soon finds himself living in his squalid
house after his perfect apartment is destroyed. The two bored men, unhappy with their mundane
lives, form an underground club where other men, who are also unhappy with their mundane
lives, fight one another. The film addresses many topics, including capitalistic, or modern,
society and the byproducts of a capitalistic society, like mass consumerism, apathetic attitudes of
the middle class, and the monotony of daily life. The film also contains scenes which touch on
polarizing topics such as gender, masculinity, and death. This journal entry will examine the way
in which some of the aforementioned topics are satirically addressed in the film, specifically
analyzing how those topics relate to the ideologies of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim,
and W.E.B. Dubois, mainly as it pertains to the idea of modern society.
This film presents an exemplary satirical depiction of social reality, henceforth referred to
as modern society, by accurately addressing components of modern society in a dramatic manner
to demonstrate many of the asinine conditions in which we live. From my interpretation, Fight
Club illustrates modern society as a humdrum and dull place where people are unsatisfied with
and unmoved by their lives. Every day, people go to work at a job they severely dislike to make
money to buy things they do not need, often never use, and probably can not afford. They then
retreat home -- or to their “filing cabinet for different occupations”, as the main character refers
to it -- to sit with all the items they bought that they do not need, rarely use, and could not afford.
The next day, they do it all over again. This monotonous routine causes people to participate in
unhealthy activities just to feel something. A prime example is how the unnamed main character
and his love interest, Marla, pretend to have diseases like Lymphoma as well as brain, bowel, and
testicular cancer to attend support groups for these ailments. According to Marla and the main
character, attending these meetings elicits genuine emotions since the people around them face
genuine emotions around their imminent death. These meetings are the only spaces in which the
main character allows himself to cry. Another byproduct of the monotony of life expressed in the
film is an underground fighting ring where participants fight one another simply to feel
something. Modern society, as presented in Fight Club, most closely relates to the ideas of
modern society described by Max Weber.
According to Classical Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology, a
text written by Allison Hurst, Max Weber describes modern society as consisting of hard-nosed
rationality, bureaucratic authority structures, and a general dreariness of life. This encompassed
the capitalistic direction in which society was advancing during his time. Weber theorized that
modern society advanced the way that it did due to cultural and institutional factors. The
principal cultural property that Weber believed molded modern society was the Protestant work
ethic, which fueled the spirit of capitalism. The spirit of capitalism holds that in order to have a
system dependent upon investment for future gain, you need to have people willing to save and
invest rather than spend and consume (Hurst 182). Protestants, specifically Calvinists and
Puritans, were of this belief. Their doctrines stipulate that working hard is a virtue while greed,
idleness, joy and acquisitiveness are not. Only through hard work and asceticism, the doctrine of
living in self-denial without luxuries or comfort, does one bring glory to God (Hurst 186). Only
by excelling in one’s occupation and improving production while denouncing wealth, could one
magnify God’s glory. Additionally, Weber believed that social stratification in modern society, is
mainly based on birth, honor, profession/occupation, or political affiliation (Hurst 10). Properties
that construct Weber’s view of modern society are also displayed in the film. For example, much
of the film is shot with undertones of grey to highlight life's dreariness and hard-nosed reality.
Another congruency is the bureaucratic authoritative structures. In my opinion, the movie
presents two: the first is the main character’s job, and the second is the fight club. Both contain at
least five of the six characteristics of bureaucracy described by Weber. Both: 1) are fixed and
jurisdictional areas that are ordered by general rules (ordered by chores in the sense of the club),
2) have a hierarchiarl system of super and subordination, 3) contain a space where official
documents/records (or plans in regards to the club) are stored, 4) have positions that require
special training (a person has to spend a certain amount of time outside with no food or water
before joining the club. Then must rise up the ranks to carry out the most important vandalism
operations), and 5) the management of the office/club must follow a set of rules (higher ranking
members are not allowed to talk about project mayhem. While the club may be considered a less
traditional beauracracy, it still exemplifies the characteristics of one. Despite the similarities
between Weber’s idea of modern society and the one presented in the film, there are some
differences. In my opinion, the biggest difference is the way in which people are stratified. I
believe that the film represents social stratification most similar to the ideals of Marx. The film
organizes people through class. Some people own and monopolize profit-generating resources
while others work for a living (Hurst 10). The people who work for a living experience the
dreariness of life and are forced to do things like join a fight club, while the people who own can
enjoy the spoils of life. The presentation of modern society in Fight Club also aligns with the
major concepts outlined by Marx and Durkheim.
Marx’s concept of alienation is applicable to Fight Club. Marx posited that there are four
types of alienation. Alienation from the product, from the process, from humanity, and from
other humans. We will focus on the third type of alienation and how it relates to the film. Marx
posits that meaningful labor and productivity are equal and essential to humanity and human life.
Meaningful labor refers to natural labor traditionally done by humans, like farming and hunting.
He states, “nature is our body, and we must remain in continuous interchange with it to stay
alive.” (Hurst 23). Therefore, when labor distances itself from its natural state and turns into a
commodity that can be bought and sold, or replaced by advancing technology, the relationship
between labor and humanity is deformed. Labor becomes a means of existence instead of
existence itself. This is exactly what happens in the film. For every character, labor only
functioned as a medium for survival which made them miserable. This is especially evident
when Durden says, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can
buy shit we don’t need. … We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a
spiritual war; our Great Depression is our lives.”. Not until participants of the fight club began
farming, cooking, and cleaning -- natural things that are immediately related to their humanity --
did they stop feeling alienated. Durkheim’s concept of mechanical solidarity is also applicable.
Durkheim defines mechanical solidarity as a pre-modern form of society described as the
solidarity of sameness. The film exhibited this when all the club participants lived in Durden’s
house. They all wore the same clothes, slept together in bunk beds, had chores to carry out
around the house, and lived by the same set of rules. It is interesting to think about how
mechanical society manifests itself in the film versus how it manifests itself in our world. In the
film, mechanical solidarity fostered stability and even happiness amongst those living in
Durden’s house. However, the maner in which mechanical solidarity manifests itself in our world
often fosters the opposite. For example, prisons, private schools, and the military utilize
mechanical solidarity. All prisoners are governed by the same set of rules, eat the same food, go
to sleep and to the yard at the same time etc.; however, prison is not described as a environment
that promotes neither stability nor happiness. In the same sense, speaking from first hand
experience, all private school students dress the same, abide by the same grooming standards,
take the same curriculum, etc; however, that environment was designed for a specific
demographic of people. Subsequently, it will only entice stability or happiness for those people.
Outsiders are subjected to suffer within the system. The same is true for the United States
Military. They employ mechanical solidarity, however, the institution was designed for a certain
demographic. Therefore, when other demographics are integrated they are grossly mistreated. I
believe that the mechanical solidarity seen in the film functioned well because it was designed to
incorporate all, for the achievement of goals in which everyone believed; this is something that is
unheard of in the world today.
Fight Club presents society in a light that demonstrates the negative effects of the
capitalistic world in which we live. Things like mass consumerism and general unhappiness
plague our society due to our alienation from natural labor. The ideals of Marx, Durkheim, and
Weber, specifically the capitalistic spirit, bureaucracy, alienation, and mechanical solidarity, are
applicable to the society presented in the film, and provide insights into our world today.
Citations:

Hurst AL. Classical sociological theory and foundations of American sociology. Open Textbook
Library. https://open.umn.edu