There was once a time when the societies of the world were nothing more than a ruling class and a class that was ruled. In these feudal societies classes were set. There was little chance for a member of the ruling bourgeoisie class to cross over to the oppressed proletariat class or from the proletariat class to the bourgeoisie class. Every individual within each class had the routine for each day set out for him or her. There was little change in the lives of individuals of these societies. There was monotony in their work and their work did little more for them than keeping them alive. In those societies, in those times, there was scarce chance of bettering oneself.

Then there came an era, a time of drastic change. The concept of industrialization and Capitalism was introduced to societies all over the world. Some societies accepted it while others condemned it. Those that accepted it became what was known as modern societies or simply put Capitalist societies.

Capitalist or modern societies are very complex in structure. Many theorists have tried to explain or simplify the complexities of these societies, among the greatest of them Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim.

According to Marx competition between workers alienated them for each other. They were also alienated from the means of production because they had no say in it's running. Workers often remained in this state of oppression, a state in which happiness or even fulfillment was hard to find. After all the inequality in the labour market, (stratification) workers were even alienated from enjoying life or finding personal fulfillment in it! Once again for Marx, the division of labour and conflict between capitalists and workers were crucial problems of modern society. Social stratification also played a key role.

With modernization and industrialization, labour became increasingly specialized. Before this in the pre- modern societies, all workers did almost the same work in order to sustain themselves. These workers shared social cohesion base on similarity and commonality among themselves. This 'mechanical solidarity' was soon replaced by 'organic solidarity'. With organic solidarity social cohesion was based on each individual's dependence on every other in the society for survival. (The Emile Durkheim Archive, Solidarity)

For Durkheim, the essential elements of modern society and the ills of it are contrasting to Marx's in some ways yet similar in others. Durkheim's emphasis of modern society was on the norms, values and belief systems that governed it. After determining what resulted from modernization, Durkheim unlike Marx was interested in reforming not eliminating modern society. In analyzing Durkheim's theory of modern society, I will begin with the focal point of it, namely solidarity.

Firstly, each theorist has a somewhat different view as to what the essential elements of modern society are. For Marx the division of labour and class conflict brought about social strat

Some common words found in the essay are:
Marx's Durkheim's, According Marx, Marx Durkheim, Karl Marx, Durkheim Archives, Feudalism Capitalism, Religion Durkheim, Emile Durkheim, modern society, norms values, elements modern society, elements modern, modern societies, division labour, emile durkheim, collective beliefs, karl marx, Archive Solidarity, essential elements, essential elements modern, Marx Emile, marx emile durkheim, crucial elements, karl marx emile, marx division labour,
Approximate Word count = 1209
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)