[danerjnbaptiste]

Here i am required to do the body of the essay and the conclusion ...so the introduction is left out....The essay should be 3 paragraphs with each paragraph posessin no more than 12 lines.

The question

Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber have been named among the “founding fathers” of sociology. Critically discuss the contributions of any two of these theorists to the development of sociology as a discipline.

Emile Durkheim made a significant contribution to the development of the Functionalist perspective of society. Durkheim emphasized that societies were ‘systems’ made up of interrelated social elements. So, social institutions functions harmoniously with one another and for the benefit of society as a whole. These different parts of the social system are interrelated by a commitment to the norms, values, and beliefs that integrate the entire system, which structural functionalists believe tends toward a state of equilibrium. Durkheim focused on social facts and its impact on social change. He noted that social facts are the social structures and cultural norms and values that are external to and coercive over individuals. Durkheim’s study on suicide revealed the truth in that social facts impacts social change. At the time Durkheim was writing, suicide was interpreted as an action purely determined by psychological and biographical factors. However Durkheim saw differently claiming that suicide was rather a societal matter, as its rates increased overtime.

On the contrary, Karl Marx contributions where made from a Conflict theory standpoint. According to Marx, society was structured from classes. In more complex societies there exist two major social classes they are the capitalist class or bourgeoisie and the working class or the proletariats. An individual relationship to the means of production will determine their class. Hence the most powerful class owns the means of production and the least powerful class sells its labor in order to earn a living. As sited in O’Donnell (1981) Marx views society as operating mainly through class conflict, where each class pursues its own interest and then brings it into conflict with other classes. Also Marx posited that as time passed the capitalist system would be overthrown through the process of social change. Marx spoke of exploitation in the society in which alienation and false class consciousness existed. However for social change to occur those being exploited must move away from a state of mind of false class consciousness and develop class consciousness. Marx predicted that eventually the proletariats would overthrow the bourgeoisie through political revolution, which would lead to communism. This is a reflection of social change .Haralambos et al (2004).

In a nutshell, it is fair to say that Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx as they were two well known pioneers of sociology have significantly contributed in the development of sociology as a discipline, though Durkheim’s views stands in opposition to that of Karl Marx.

[Perdica]

Sounds OK to me, but still needs a little work. But you should wait for an experts opinion

[danerjnbaptiste]

OK thanks perdica