Question

Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx offer two different interpretations of social movements. Explain these two interpretations.

Answer 1

1. Emile Durkheim

Their anxiety about maintaining social order was reflected in the work of sociologist Emile Durkheim. Durkheim’s writings about the division of labour in society, forms of religious life, and even suicide, mirror his concern about how social structures enable social integration. Social movements were seen as forces that led to disorder.

2. Karl Marx

Karl Marx offered a different view of violent collective action. Historians like E. P. Thompson showed that the ‘crowd’ and the ‘mob’ were not made up of anarchic hooligans out to destroy society. Instead, they too had a ‘moral economy’. In other words, they have their own shared understanding of right and wrong that informed their actions. They often resorted to public protest because they had no other way of expressing their anger and resentment against deprivation.