Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx: Contributions

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Weber, Marx and Durkheim

Max Weber and Karl Marx (1818-1883) were German social philosophers and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) an influential French sociologist. Both 3 were deeply influenced by the Academic and scientific movements of the Enlightenment and during their time in the 19th century (until the 20th Century for both Durkheim & Max Webber with the latter having been born in 1864 and subsequently expiring in the 1920's) they contributed lasting philosophies and social theories to their respective academic fields. Their works have become the basis of many a social movement (as in the case of Karl Marx) and important academic schools of thought, paradigms as you will. They each have unique perspectives meaning that their established schools of thought are different from each other but all three of them, deeply influenced by the Enlightenment have strong positivist and empirical tendencies.

Emile Durkheim

Durkheim is seen as a pioneer of modern sociology and anthropology, an early proponent of solidarism. It was him who published the first journal of sociology, L'Année Sociologique, whose subsequent publications and academic discussions helped to establish sociology as an academic discipline in the social sciences. His sociological studies explored the following topics: suicide, education, crime, religion and deviance - social structures, agencies and phenomenon, aspects of society if you will, that explored and presented the opportunity to study and explain social issues. His groundbreaking 1895 work, 'The Rules of the Sociological Method' established the 'science' in sociological study, becoming the ...