Emile Durkheim and Alvin Toffler
This paper compares and contrasts Emile Durkheim and Alvin Toffler. It does this by focusing on their backgrounds, lives, education and achievements. Although they lived at different times, these scholars are credited for making imminent contributions in the field of sociology. Their philosophies inspired the society to have an informed perception of sociology. While Emile concentrated on modern sociological research, Alvin focused on futurism. These made them become so popular with many readers and other scholars (Craig J. C., 2002).
On the other hand, Alvin is a distinguished American citizen who was born in New York City on 4th/10/1928. Currently, he lives with his wife, Heidi in Los Angeles, California. Just like Emile, he is of a Jewish descent. After pursuing his elementary education, he enrolled at the prestigious New York University where he majored in English. Later, he worked as a welder before landing an editorial job at the Future Magazine. As a dynamic professional, Alvin clinched a job at IBM as a researcher. Here, he got an opportunity to conduct an intensive research on various aspects of sociology. Later, he advanced his literary and research skills in conducting a series of studies in the field of sociology. This made him be so popular and influential to a larger section of the society.
In deed, Emile Durkheim is a very prominent figure in sociology. His contributions made him crowned as the father of sociology. As the principal architect of sociology, he was the first person to establish a department of sociology in the whole of Europe. He got an ample opportunity to accomplish these because he was the very first professor in this discipline. In 1898, he launched the first journal of social science in France. In his writings, he legitimized sociology as a science (Gianfranco, P., 2000). This followed his publication of the Suicide in which he gave an account of the research conducted to find out more about the cases of suicide amongst the Catholics. Besides, he introduced the sociological ideas of coherence, deductive model, integrity and structural functionalism. Moreover, he held that sociology should be a holistic field exclusively for the study of the society.
As a sociologist, Alvin is credited with the idea of futurism. His deep understanding of information made him believe that people should be enlightened at all times. In his research, he found out that individuals can effectively use information technology to advocate for the changes in the society. As a permanent thing, change should be embraced at all times. It is the only way through which the society can cope up with the constant dynamics. If appropriately utilized, it can transform communication, commerce and education. At the same time, he proposed that the society requires a combination of emotional and cognitive skills. They are the only ways of influencing people to change their attitudes to be able to fit into the societal structure. In The Third Wave, he sensitized people on the dramatic historical changes in the life of man. These are recorded in the Fist Wave (during agrarian revolution); Second Wave (during the industrial revolution) and the Third Wave (during the post industrial revolution) (Satin, M., 2004). This is a clear indication of change which requires everyone to use information technology and other sociological skills to tackle.
In his philosophies, mile was influenced by great philosophers such as Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Rene Descartes. He collaborated with notable figures including Marx Weber and Karl Marx. His contributions made him become so popular. The publications of The Division of Labor and other books made him so famous. A part from influencing a lot of people, he managed to be recognized in many occasions. For instance, in 1902, he was appointed as the Sorbonne chairman of education. In 1906 and 1913, he qualified as a full professor of sociology and chairman of education and sociology (Berk, B.B., 2006). These were great achievements which did not only made him popular, but also enabled him to be appointed as a chief advisor to the ministry of education. On the other hand, Alvin’s popularity increased after the publications of his books and articles through which he disseminated his ideas. As a result of his great influences in sociology, the Financial Times described him as the ‘world’s most futurologist.’ At the same time, Accenture adored him as the third most influential business leader in the world. Meaning, he is only comparable to Bill Gates and Peter Drucker.
References
Berk, B.B. (2006) "Macro-Micro Relationships in Durkheim's Analysis of Egoistic Suicide".
Sociological Theory, Vol. 24, No. 1 p. 60
Craig J. C.(2002). Classical sociological theory. Wiley-Blackwell.
Gianfranco, P. (2000). Durkheim. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Satin, M. (2004). Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now. Westview Press and Basic Books
