Marx and Weber's analyses of industrial capitalism and society

Sociology: Marx, Weber and Research Approach

When Karl Marx observed how the Industrial Revolution, with its new capitalist economic system, was affecting society and social life, he was especially concerned with the division industrialization brought into society. In his view, this new revolution polarized society into the bourgeoisie (those who own the means of production, the factories and the land) and the much larger proletariat (the working class who actually perform the labor necessary to extract something valuable from the means of production.)

In Marx's view, industrial capitalism presented many flaws as they went against certain implicit values that Marx based his own philosophy upon including: universal ethical values, which he believed were hindered by the presence of capitalism and the dimension it brought into the workforce and political atmosphere of the time.

Ib.)

While Marx found the idea of industrial capitalism segregating in terms of society, he viewed the entire situation as an inevitable bridge into a progression towards socialism and then communism, which was the ultimate goal in his mind. For Marx, industrial capitalism was a mere hurdle in the face of the possibility of a post-capitalist society that had been emancipated from the shackles of industrial capitalism. He viewed the time to come as a communist utopia

Marx believed that the only positive side to the progression of industrial capitalism was the fact that society would soon understand that their past existences, which revolved around more human, social, and cultural forms, had now been destroyed by the inclusion of a class-dominated society that would exploit the worker and benefit the upper class. With this realization, Marx believed that the worker would rise up in support of forming the communist utopia, free of class restrictions and the exploitation of the common man.

Ic.)

While Max Weber held his own views on the Industrial Revolution and the dawning age of industrial capitalism, his views were much different than those of Karl Marx. Weber has long been viewed as being torn between his own bourgeois condition and his intellectual identity, often sensitive to the arguments of the romantic, anti-capitalism thinkers that were so influential to him. In viewing Weber's opinion of the Industrial Revolution itself, Weber's main concern was the rationalization and bureaucratization of society that stemmed from this revolution. He believed that such changes within society would bring about significant changes in both humanity's agency and happiness.

Weber believed that society was being driven by the passage of rational ideas into a culture that had transformed completely into a bureaucratic entity. Weber believed that with this change came a major flaw in society of the presence of an "iron cage." This iron cage, he noted would trap society under the newly-implemented plan of industrial capitalism, changing individuals happiness completely. No longer would society function for themselves, but in a manner dictated by capitalism and a rigid society with rules and structures they would remain unable to change, which even Weber was unable to imagine an escape from.

IIb.)

In viewing the facets of the semi-structured, qualitative, in-depth, one-on-one interview with a small number of subjects who volunteer to be interviewed, certain advantages and disadvantages can be noted, especially in terms of the problems disadvantages may post to the research at hand.

The main advantage of such a procedure appears to be the capacity for an interviewee to delve far deeper into responses than they could in a mere questionnaire. However, these participants are also more apt to skew their answers in a manner that they believe would better serve the research question or appear more favorable to the researcher who is doing the questioning. This type of research model allows a far more in-depth and honed look into the subjects' responses, but can be expensive and difficult in terms of comparing subjects' answers.

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