Question

Theory: Comte, Spencer, and Marx held different perspectives regarding society. Which of these perspectives fit an ideal society? Which of them fit a real society nd how do they fit?  

Answer 1

• Positivism-Comte's ideas about society were closely related to what he called positivism, or the idea that the truth only comes from scientific knowledge. In other words, if you can observe it and test it, then you can find the truth.
• Thus, Comte didn't consider things that cannot be scientifically validated, like religion and intuition, to be the 'real truth.' Through his study of sociology and positivism, Comte developed three stages of social evolution, which included the theological stage, the metaphysical stage, and the positive, or scientific, stage.
• According to Comte, societies start in the theological stage of development, where society is based on the laws of God, or theology. During this stage, the rules of society, and the way that people behave, are completely based on the ideals of the religion that is popular in that society.
• The metaphysical stage is a transitional stage in which mysterious, abstract forces (e.g., nature) replace supernatural forces as the powers that explain the workings of the world.
• The positivist stage is the last and highest stage in Comte's work. In this stage, people search for invariant laws that govern all of the phenomena of the world.
• Spencer defined sociology as the study of societal evolution and believed that the ultimate goal of societal evolution is complete harmony and happiness. Spencer's theory of evolutionary change is built upon three basic principles: integration, differentiation, and definiteness.
• Spencer argued that homogenous phenomena are inherently unstable, which makes them subject to constant fluctuations. These fluctuations force homogeneous systems to differentiate, which results in greater multiformity. In other words, homogeneous systems grow to become heterogeneous.
• According to Spencer, individuals are the source of all social phenomena, and the motives of individuals are key to understanding society as a whole.
• Spencer wrote of organisms developing from simple to more complex forms and spoke of this as progress. Spencer, not Darwin, coined the phrase "survival of the fittest," and Darwin, in later editions of his Origins of the Species employed Spencer's phrase.
• Spencer believed that human behavior was primarily organized toward self-preservation. He recognized that people were social and acted together for mutual self-defense and remained tied together by a natural sympathy and concern for each other.
• Humans, he believed, had an innate sense of morality and had a compassion for their fellow humans that extended beyond the family unit. Spencer believed that men were political creatures.
• Like Aristotle he believed that societies functioned best when they allowed a degree of liberty to individuals. The only liberty that should be restricted, he held, was that which was necessary to preserve liberty in general.This perspective fits an ideal society,wherein everyone has morality and empthy towards each other,and work and stay together.All human beings having compassion for each is extremely idealistic in today's society which is driven by so many conflicts.
• Marx developed a theory that human societies progress though a struggle between two distinct social classes. The proletariat, the workers, are the lower class. They perform the labor, but the upper class managers, bosses, and rulers, called the bourgeoisie, get the profits. In this system, which became known as Marxism, governments existed to protect the wealthy, not the common good. This perspective reflects a real society till today. The economical status of people define their social roles.In society,the conflict exists between lower and upper class at every level.