Sociology Concepts About Rationalization Introduced Term Paper

While in Durkheim's concept of moral density, competition is a pre-existing condition, rationalization and social change in Weber's terms is determined by the enhancement or development of humans in their ability to adapt to their social environment. Competition, although a factor in the individual's social environment, did not become the focus of Weber's process of rationalization, as compared to Durkheim's conceptualization. Marx's dialectical materialism is likened to Durkheim's concept of competition in that through this concept, human society is illustrated to be part of an ongoing history of social change premeditated by class conflict, which emerged out of the unequal control of the mode of production or technology. The relationship between the forces (elite and working classes) and mode of production determine the existence of a class stratification and conflict in the society. This class conflict led to differentiated roles in the society, resulting to formal rationality, and ultimately, after a social revolution, this will become the catalyst for social change.