Individuals and Society

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, according to Weber, an action is social, as long as it holds some meaning for the actor, involves people, has some direction and leads to some end; furthermore, he believed that the actions should be studied while taking into the account the actual, existing conditions. The author points out that Weber focused on conscious will of people; whereas, Durkheim considered external factors.
The paper reports that Durkheim has been accused frequently of an anti-individualistic approach to his studies and over-emphasis on society, integration, cohesion and rituals; however, his work on altruistic suicides balances societal regulations and individualism, as an overdose of any of two can lead to suicides and social anarchy.

From the Paper:

"Some of examples of social relationships are friendships, marriages, conflict, wars etc. these relationships may differ in their nature. Relationships may not be probably balanced in loyalty, agreement and duty may differ from individual to individuals. Similarly, the time a relationship last is also any important factor. Some relationships might be fleeting ones but these weren't studied in detail by Weber. He only studied relationships that occurred for a longer period of time which led to social institutions such as workplaces, families, friendships, religious places etc. Also it only when an action is repeated number of times, that is meaning has some value and effect on people as individuals and as a group. It is among these repeated actions that some become the customs, laws, norms and maxims that people are supposed to adhere to, in a society. As Taylor et al. (1995) suggests, people in a society or particular group are influenced by its norms because members have a 'shared culture and regular social interaction'. Weber did not include in study the unexpected actions and their effect on society. These are better analyzed by Durkheim."

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