Max the Mighty

Max Weber was born in the year 1864. From an early age books became the center of his life. Weber was known as the type of individual to read whatever he could get his hands on. Teachers noted, Weber was highly intelligent; hardly payed attention in class and did very little work. At the age of thirteen, Weber wrote two historical essays. Unlike, other sociologists before him, Weber focused on the consequences social life had on an individual’s mind and how it impacted one’s behavior. He…

The myth of Perseus is about a young man trying to free his mother from a king. This king sends him to bring back the head of Medusa, a terrifying gorgon who has killed many men. He is successful in his journey and is able to free his mother, while gaining other treasures along the way. Many of the things that happen in the story align with the concepts of Karl Marx. In fact Perseus is taking a journey to regain an upper class status that he lost while a child. We can see the hints of this plot…

behind Marxism is an Anti- Capitalism that is against differing social classes and materialism. They believed that economic conditions of people determine the social and political structures in which production is owned also known as communism. Max Weber was a German…

Erik Olin Wright’s, “Envisioning Real Utopias” was a lot more scholarly type of reading that I was not expecting considering this was a general education class. Although the reading and studying was more difficult than expected I found that this book was very useful in forcing myself to really study and buckle down with my study abilities. The reason for this is because I found this book too flow more like a scholarly journal rather than a regular book or textbook, the terms and definitions of…

Many Americans despised Karl Marx as soon as his political theory gained international attention. However, some did support Marx’s theory, even while it was considered radical. Those defined as some include world-renowned playwright, Arthur Miller. In his famous play, Death of a Salesman, the main character, Willy Loman, and his family fail to achieve the American dream. In Miller’s opinion, the Loman family’s vision of the American dream is unrealistic in a Capitalist society, but their vision…

Willy Loman: A Martyr of the Middle Class For many decades now, the American middle class has been subject to great self-delusion and failure. Stuck in a social construct not quite poor but far from wealthy, the suburban class tends to search for high risks with high rewards. Furthermore, it is constantly pressured by the materialistic extravagance of the affluent class, tempted to don superficial luxuries to disguise its lack of prosperity. This yearning to bridge the gap between lavishness…

T.H. Marshall was a British sociologist that believed in the idea that citizenship could lead to equality. However, he also believed that capitalism lead to inequality. This analysis will seek to explain the tension between citizenship and capitalism through the eyes of Marshall. First one will need to have an understanding of Marshall’s definition of citizenship. Second one will have to gain an understanding of why Marshall believes that capitalism leads to inequality. Ultimately, there is…

How does this relate to world politics? The very core of Marxism is the unit of analysis, most theories of IR today assume the state to the main actor, not only that, but to be an autonomous, rational actor, totally independent of social relations like a ‘black box’. Marxism, on the other hand contends it is the class system which is the key to understanding world politics. Furthering this perception; with the new neo-liberal world order replacing the embedded liberal order which centred on the…

Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Karl Weber are considered to be the principal "founding fathers" of the field of sociology. The following investigation, first of all, offers an overview of the beliefs and methodologies of each of these sociologists, discussing how they interact and how they affected each other. This discussion will show that there is a gradual evolution in his development of sociology that goes from the macrocosm to the microcosm, that is, first focusing on society overall and…

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a man who wakes up as a giant cockroach one morning and the self-realization he goes through as a non-human being. This tale is analogous to Karl Marx’s theories about capitalism and alienation since these theories state the issues with the capitalist system and the effect work has on individuals. For instance, Karl Marx’s theories about alienation of the worker states that workers are alienated from other human beings, producers are…