Karl Marx;
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Sensation or perception is an interaction
between subject and object; the bare object, apart from the activity of the percipient,
is a mere raw material, which is transformed in the process of becoming known.
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Both subject and object, the knower and thing
known, are in the continual process of mutual adaptation. He calls this the
dialectical because it is never fully complete.
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He denies ‘sensation’ – we only notice things as
part of the process is acting with reference to them and any theory which
leaves this out is a misleading abstraction.
Philosophy of
history;
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Believes un the dialectical process.
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But differs from Hegel; Hegel believed the
motive force call the spirit, which causes human history to develop accordingly
to stages of the dialectic set forth in the ‘Logic.’
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Marx believed it is not a spirit driving
history, instead it is just inevitiable – it is man’s reaction to matter, of
which the most important part is the mode of production.
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His idea of materialism, here, becomes economics.
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Politics, religion, philosophy and art of any
epoch in human history are outcomes of its methods of production and, lesser
extent, of distribution.
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Marx substituted class, for Hegels idea of
nations, to be the driving force of the dialectical.
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This is outlined to its greatest extent in the
Communist Manifesto.
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Marx’s revolutionary ideas are identifiable in
his similarities with Rousseau, in that property is the cause of class struggle
and is what caused us to be civilized. The fact the proletariat are unable to
possess property,
Communist manifesto;
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Suggests that class struggle 'sprouted' from the
'ruins' of a feudal society.
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He believed there to be a hostile divide in
society, one in which the bourgeois were in possession of the proletarian;
forming a new kind of oppression and struggle. These two classes were seen by
Marx to be directly against each other.
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Historical materialism for Marx shows that class
struggle and desire for high exchange value have given power to the
bourgeoisie, gradually, over time and that he believes this to be the reason
for historical and social progression to its current state of capitalism.
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The bourgeois ' has resolved personal worth into
exchange value,' and have created a false consciousness of the proletariat
through politics and religion, undermining and exploiting them further. He believed that he bourgeoisie could not
exist 'without constantly revolutionizing
the instruments of production,’
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He says the bourgeois have ‘succeeded in
gathering masses within the population, centralizing the means of production
and concentrating property in few hands.’ Creating the Proletariat.
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The drive for the bourgeois to create capital
through the exploitation of the proletariat means the proletariat lose
character; they are seen as machines to produce profitable commodities, even
though they could be considered commodities themselves.
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He believed that the development of industry and
the growing need for capital would lead the proletariat into becoming class
conscious and, in doing so, will go through many changes during the progression
to revolution and gaining the means of production through the overthrowing of
bourgeois
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For Marx, capitalism was inevitably doomed to
collapse because it held flaws within it that would ultimately destroy itself;
the proletariat will only speed up the process.
Weber –
Bureaucracy;
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Is rule from a desk or office by written
documentation, and a servant of government.
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Weber disregards bureaucracy being neutral and
suggests every bureaucracy has its own interests. It is merely a means to give
policy direction.
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The modern bureaucracy came from the middle
ages; kings riding on horseback with clergy men recording the journey and
sending it to correspondents.
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Weber believes armies have become
bureaucratized.
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He points out, educational institutions, churches
and other institutions have a bureaucracy. They all have staff for keeping records
and communications.
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It is a pervasive feature of modern society.
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Weber sets out an ‘ideal type’ for bureaucracies;
characterised by divisions of labour trough rules, impersonally applied, and
staffing by full time professionals who have no ownership to the means of
administration; jobs, funds, and a salary aren’t based on labour value.
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Bureaucrats are even further removed from
property because there are no longer ‘prebends’; instead there is a salary.
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The highest value of a bureaucracy is reliable
rule following.
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Modern bureaucrats do no own their jobs – Weber suggests
a parallel with capitalist productive enterprise. Which he then compares to soldiers
formally owning their weapons, now they don’t, much like workers being separated
from their means of production.
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Division of labour requires stability of staff;
so the bureaucracy want educated recruits. This where Weber points out
credentialism and that formal educational qualifications are an obsession of
the bureaucracy.
Types of
legitimate authority;
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Weber treats bureaucracy under this heading, of
which there are three types of authority.
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Charismatic; it is regarded as legitimate
because followers are personally devoted to the gifted leader.
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Traditional authority; regarded legitimate
because everyone has always obeyed the person in position of leader – no one
thinks of disrupting them.
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Rational authority; is the rule of law. It exists
in a community where there is respect for the law or where the law is constituted
legitimate.
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The bureaucracy exists as this form of
authority. It is seen as the most efficient way of implementing the rule of
law, rules are recorded, studied and applied in a reliable way to individual
cases.
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Weber see rule of law to be rational because he
believes expediency and rational values are the main forms of rationality and
it employs both to gain obedience.
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Though he views it as efficient he seen bureaucracy
as a ‘distasteful triumph’ and identified negative impacts bureaucracy may have
on society.
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He believed that there will be cultural
exhaustion through the rationalisation of religion, that the principle of
formal equality will eventually rob each individual of nobility and any
artistic genius,
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Weber views bureaucracy in a similar way that
Marx views Capitalism. Its spread is inevitable and will affect all areas of
life. Though Marx insists capitalism can be overthrown for the good of the
people, Weber believes and accepts bureaucracy is inescapable.
Ideal types
of sociological organisation;
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Socialism, nationalism, liberalism etc. and that
behind them is a method and hypothesis and successive approximation of truth.
He then compared this to social reality and came to the conclusion that there
is no absolute knowledge but it is possible to be honest and have reason to
able the belief.
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This is known as agnosticism.
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He furthered his ideas of sociological ideals
with his analysis of what he what he believed to be four types of fundamental
social action;
1.
Instrumental – the belief that our actions are
rational in order to achieve goodness; going to university will generally get
you a good job.
2.
Value – the idea of doing something because it
is accepted to be good practice, and is again an example of rationalisation.
3.
Affectual – Something we do for emotional
reasons.
4.
Traditional – this is something we do because
society has always done it.
