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“An Army of Civil Servants”: M ax W eber and É mile D urkheim on Socialism
Author(s) -
Dawson Matt
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/johs.12088
Subject(s) - socialism , mile , value (mathematics) , civil servants , divergence (linguistics) , sociology , political science , philosophy , law , mathematics , geography , politics , communism , linguistics , geodesy , statistics
This paper is a comparison of the views of M ax W eber and É mile D urkheim on socialism; these two have yet to be compared on this topic. They offered shared critiques of socialism, but differed in assessment of its overall worth, with D urkheim being more welcoming. After considering possible explanations for this divergence I argue it reflects the contrasting methodologies adopted by both. Whilst W eber places questions of the “value” of socialism solely in the conscious of the individual, and therefore beyond sociology, D urkheim sees this as a social question and therefore part of the practical concerns of sociologists.