Production Processes Part - 2

Weber uses the emergence and expansion of capitalism in Europe as his central problem to illustrate his point. He makes the observation that at the time when capitalism first emerged in Europe, there were two other major civilizations that were, in some ways, more developed than Europe. One was a flourishing civilisation, China, and the other was India. China was also the birthplace of the printing press and gunpowder. Math and astronomy are just two of the sciences that have made significant progress in India. But the establishment of capitalism occurred in England, not in China or India. Weber followed the trail of ideas and precepts that pervaded among the common people who belonged to particular sects of Protestant Christianity to find the answer, tracing the beginnings of capitalism. These Protestants held to the idea of predestination, which holds that some people have already been selected by God for salvation. They developed a strong desire to be among the elect as a result of this belief, he claimed.

Engaging intensely in worldly pursuits and devotedly pursuing one's calling or a task in life that has been divinely assigned are two ways to reassure oneself that one is among the elect. simply following one's calling or. a task in life that has been given to you by the divine. But simply following your calling won't cut it. Working methodically in the calling is necessary to ensure success. Success should be attained, however, for the greater glory of God rather than just the prospect of enjoyment that it offers. These Protestants held that any time wasted relaxing or doing nothing is time that could have been used to work for God's greater glory. To indulge oneself and divert attention from God's work by living in luxury is to practice self-indulgence. So they lived a basic, ascetic life. Since there are no shortcuts to success when one is working for God, they also placed a high value on being honest in all of their interactions with other people. These ideals, according to Max Weber, were in line with the spirit of capitalism. After all, prudent spending combined with a desire to make a profit were prerequisites for both saving and investing. The ability to predictably and calculably achieve business success through one's own efforts depends on methodical hard work, honesty in one's business dealings with others, and keeping commitments made. It's true that everyone had seen. Before the arrival of Protestant businessmen, there were numerous businessmen, traders, and usurers who made enormous fortunes, but they did so not methodically but rather by betting on their luck. They had been successful in large part thanks to chance and the element of luck. However, capitalism places a strong emphasis on reason, a methodical means of reducing the element of chance and enhancing one's own control over the results of one's efforts. As a result, Weber is quick to note that this connection between Protestantism and capitalism was only necessary at the time when capitalism first emerged. The Protestant Ethic may become less important as capitalism develops as a result of its maturity.

Durkheim was a well-known French sociologist and Max Weber's contemporaries. Durkheim, like Weber, attempted to reconcile his ideas with those of Marxist thought, but his main issues were distinct from those raised by Marxist thought. The issues with morality and the maintenance of social order interested Durkheim. But in the context of the interaction between production, technology, and society, his observations on contemporary society are pertinent.

The Division of Labour in Society, written by Durkheim in 1893, presents a generally positive view of the division of labor in society. He asserts that there is a fundamental distinction between pre-industrial and industrial societies. He refers to a type of social solidarity found in pre-industrial societies as "mechanical solidarity.". Mechanical solidarity is a solidarity that results from likeness, and in these societies, the "collective conscience" of society encircles the various society members. Individual members of these societies share the same beliefs and values, as well as to a large extent, the same roles, and there is relatively little social differentiation. Therefore, in an abstract sense, the elimination of any one segment of society has no impact on the remaining segments. Legal and normative values of a restrictive kind are prevalent in these societies. Punishment for crimes is not intended to change the offender but rather to appease society.

Solidarity is based on differences in industrial societies rather than uniformity. Here, each component of society performs a specialized task, and the contribution that these tasks make is to maintain the overall society. As a result, this division of labor is one in which there is interdependence among all the components of society. We are unable to eliminate one without affecting the others as a result. In these societies, the goal of the legal system is criminal reform rather than societal satisfaction. In these societies, people are more free.

According to Durkheim, the evolution of a simple organism into a complex one is analogous to the shift from a mechanical to an organic division of labor. This biological example suggests that he does not view industrialization or the production system as a key factor, in the change from the mechanical to the organic order. As a result, it is clear that modern societies differ structurally from their historical counterparts. This distinction was made by Marx and Weber, but Durkheim has made it a point to emphasize it strongly. A differentiated and complex society goes hand in hand with modern technology and production systems.

It is evident from a comparison of the opinions of Man, Weber, and Durkheim that all three individuals understood that the modern society is undergoing significant changes. While there is considerable agreement among them in terms of how the changes are described, they diverge greatly in how they account for the changes.

Further social changes have occurred in modern societies since the writings of Weber and Durkheim. The markets have grown to encompass the entire planet. Today, it is possible to view the entire planet as one integrated economy. The products of modern technology can be imported by societies who have not yet created their own modern production systems. Because of the integration of markets, some societies that were using archaic technologies and maintaining long-standing social customs have been forcibly sucked into modernization processes. Although each of the three thinkers seems to offer some insights into what is happening, it is obvious that more research is required in order to raise pertinent questions about current social changes because the changes that are occurring are so complex. As a result, in the following unit we will focus on modern social processes.