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Comparison Between Karl Marx And Emile Durkheim

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Name: Crystal Henrick FL6132

Compare and contrast the various early European urban theorists as found in Chapter 1 of the course text. (300-400 words)

The two theorists i’ve decided to compare and contrast are Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim. Firstly i’ll compare them to one another. From all the readings I did and past education on these individuals I found they have a lot of the same views in regards to religion. Both Emlie Durkheim and Karl Marx believe that religion is a projection of mans hopes and desires. They both also agree that religion plays a powerful role in influencing the members of a society. While coming up with these theories they were both more concerned with the human rather than the religion. Both of them did not believe in a god or gods. It’s been said that Marx saw god as idealization of human nature while Durkheim believed the idea of a god was society itself. They were not religious people so it’s interesting that they did have some of the same views and theories regarding religion in the society.

The differences between them are pretty simple. As I was previously comparing their views on religion I can continue that with talking about their differences in regards to religion, Marx argues that religion oppresses the people in the society while Durkheim argues that religion unites the society. Further; Emile Durkheim was a Functionalist, meaning he looked at society in a scientific way. He believed that members of the same society all wanted the same

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