Comparing Emile Durkheim And Max Weber's Theories

In this brief comparison of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber theories reveals some overlapping of concepts. This review depicts their differences and what could be interpreted to be similar in scope of their works. As expressed by the authors Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis in their text, Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology, “…the classical ideas expressed in sociology did not have very much of Durkheim and Weber’s analyses or beliefs. As an example, Durkheim analyzed the effects of cosmic factors season, temperature, etc. – on suicide rates (though he dismissed their causal relevance), but there is not much there” (Gould and Lewis 5). Of all of the theories, the last two of Second Modernity Theory and Risk Society Theory were spearheaded to a large degree by Weber. However, Durkheim is considered by many to be founder of sociology as a science. Durkheim’s Suicide is of great importance because it attempts to establish empiricism in sociology that would provide sociological explanation for a phenomenon traditionally regarded as exclusively psychological and individualistic.
In Durkheim’s suicide study as socially influenced phenomenon, he identified this act with its association with the ongoing industrial revolution, which eroded …show more content…
German scholar Weber (1864-1920) proposed that rationalization was increasing in the modern world through the diffusion or spread of bureaucratic intuitions, science, and capitalist principles in general. For example, Weber argued that science was “disenchanting” the world by exposing how things really work; that is, science provides rational explanations as opposed to “enchanting” or magical ones based on the supernatural. For Weber, this process of rationalization creates the “irrationalists problem” or irrationality problem, which was his way of describing how too much rationality can create irrational consequences”