Theories of Marx and Spencer

Herbert Spencer's Theory of Conflict

Both Herbert Spencer and Karl Marx were concerned with what is known as "macrosociology". That is, their writings focused on society-wide social factors rather than on smaller units or subsets of society such as individuals or small groups.

A succinct overview of Spencer's macrosocial perspective has been provided by Smelser (1980). In particular, Smelser notes that the English philosopher, Herbert Spencer, was very much influenced by the theoretical paradigms used in the nineteenth century physical sciences. The use of a biological model can be seen in Smelser's delineation of the basic thrust of Spencerian thought on societal structure and function:

Spencer compared societies to biological organisms. Plants and animals are made up of a number of parts or organs that contribute to the operation of the whole . . . Like organisms, societies range from simple to complex and are made up of specialized parts such as the state, the educational system, and so on. These parts are indepen

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ude whereas light skin became a symbol of domination. Class and economy were the heart of Marx's Theory of Conflict. However, conflict was an inherent part of most of his views. For example, ideology was viewed by Marx as in terms of class conflict; ideology can be defined as a pattern of thought linking statements of fact with statements of ideals. Marx felt that there were essentially two types of ideology. First, there was the conservative type which linked statements of fact to statements of ideal in an effort to justify the status quo. Second, there was the liberal or radical ideology which linked statements of fact to statements of ideal in an effort to attack the status quo. Interestingly, some research has been conducted on this principle. For example, Bendix (1966) studied managerial ideologies in four industrial countries. He observed that managers create ideologies that justify their control over the working class for purposes of production. Bendix noted that even in cases where the ideology stressed human relations and focused on such things as worker morale and job satisfaction, these factors were stressed only for their efficacy as factors motivating increased production. Moreover, Kornhauser, Dubin and R
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Approximate Pages = 25 (250 words per page)

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