Durkeim vs. Marxism - 831 Words

Over the years, sociologist has put forward their views when it came to defining, studying and understanding society. Society can be defined as a group or unit of people living in a geographical area, sharing a similar background and or culture. In sociological term, a society is any group of people living together in a group, comprising a single community and whose members are interdependent. To sociologists who are involved in the systematic study of society, the important aspect of defining society is its group structure or framework. Haralambos and Holborn (2008) defined a theory as a set of ideas that seek to explain the way things work. A Sociological theory is therefore a set of ideas which seek to explains how society, or how†¦show more content†¦Social order refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve and enforce what is considered to be the normal way of relating and behaving. Social order is considered to be a relatively persistent system of institutions, patterns of interaction and customs, capable of continually reproducing at least those conditions that are relevant for its own existence. Social order however refers to an alteration in the social order of a social group or society; a change in the nature, social institutions, social relations or social behaviours of a society. To more adequately assess the areas of social order and social change we will examine the areas of education, power and politics, crime and deviance, poverty, relig ion and social stratification. â€Å"Society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity: education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands.† -Emile Durkheim, 1925. â€Å"To become attached to society, the child must feel in it something that is real, alive and powerful, which dominates the person and to which he also owes the best part of himself.† - Emile Durkheim. Durkheim argued that the within the social world the school provides a service that cannot be given by the family or