SOC 2240E Major Essay: Examining Modern Society via Mills, Weber, Marx

This essay explores the dangers and complexities of modern society through the lenses of C. Wright Mills, Max Weber, Herbert Marcuse, and Karl Marx. It discusses Mills' view of man's chief danger as stemming from the unruly nature of modern society, characterized by discriminatory production methods, political techniques, and international anarchy. The essay examines Weber's analysis of bureaucracy and its impersonal relationships, contributing to the alienation of individuals. It further delves into Marcuse's concept of the one-dimensional man in a capitalist society and Marx's theory of alienation related to technology and modernity. The essay concludes by highlighting the interrelationship between bureaucracy, repressive desublimation, and alienation, emphasizing their collective contribution to the chief danger facing modern society. Desklib offers a platform to access similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

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Man’s Chief Danger
According to Mills, man’s chief danger lies in the unruly nature of the modern society
(Mills, 71). The modern society has discriminatory methods of production that favours
certain classes of people while being unfavourable to others. In addition, the modern society
is having developed certain political techniques that contribute towards the unruly nature.
The contemporary society is also characterized by international anarchy. In a nutshell, Mill
viewed man’s chief danger as the transformation that has occurred to the nature of man and
his aims in life. Mill made several observations after the world war 1 and concluded that the
transformation explained above must be man’s chief danger. The following discussion will
attempt to explain what mill meant by this. First, Mill observes that the modern society has
discriminatory methods of production. By this, he means the production methods that has
been brought by capitalism. A capitalism society is characterized by white collar jobs. These
jobs are characterized by salaries and wages as compensation for labour. In workers are
encouraged to maximize production while minimising the expenses. When the cost of
production is kept at minimum and the output maximized, the profits proliferate. The danger
brought by capitalism is that it will make a few individuals extremely rich while living the
majority of the population poor. This presents a danger to humanity since it will lead to a
situation where most people are poor. Therefore, discriminatory production poses danger to
the life of man. This has been greatly observed in the modern society. There exists a class of
few rich individuals who exploit the poor.

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Mills also observed that the political techniques of the modern society pose great
danger to man. Political ideologies are very important in influencing the state of a nation. The
political class is the one that makes major decisions concerning the country. This class
inevitably affects the life of the common person in any nation. If the political ideologies are
good, then they lead to good living conditions of citizens (Hughes, John and Wes, 17). In the
contemporary society, the political class mainly exploit the citizens. They do this through
misusing public funds and putting their personal interests before those of the nation. There
are many countries of the world that are suffering due to political factors. For instance,
politics has led to civil wars, political instability and harsh political ideologies. Therefore, it
can be concluded that political domination is one of the factors that pose danger to man.
Mills argues that in the contemporary society, people understand neither their
biography nor their history. This has led to conflicts within individuals so that they no longer
understand their nature or aims in life. The only way to overcome this is through employing
sociological imagination. The sociological imagination would help an individual to view their
experiences, history and the current events in a synergistic way. Ordinary people lack the
ability to view things this way which explains why they are caught up in danger (Cornell, 28).
If men and women could be able to understand the sociological and cultural changes that has
occurred, they would be in a better position to handle the future. This is the main message
that Mills delivers in ‘The Promise’.
Weber’s Contentions in Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy refers to a complex administrative process where every activity is
assigned to an individual or an office (Weber, 31). In a bureaucratic system, there is no
administrative gap that is left unfilled. This system was developed by Max Weber and applies
mainly to government and business organizations. In the modern society, the bureaucratic

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system is heavily employed in both governments and businesses. There are several features of
a bureaucratic system. The following discussion will be concerned with these features and
how they relate to man’s chief danger. One of the features of a bureaucracy is an
administrative class that manages those below them. The administrative class make decisions
that must be followed by those who are below them. In such a system, it is possible for the
persons in powerful positions to manipulate individuals who are below them. This
manipulation is usually negative in nature and contributes to man’s chief danger. As Mills
observed, the political techniques in a society will influence the unruly nature of a society.
Let us take an example with the senior political class. Individuals in these positions may use
their power to perpetrate heinous acts. For instance, there have been cases of political
assassinations aimed at protecting the interests of certain individuals who are in powerful
positions. In light of this, it can be concluded that the power distribution and dynamics of the
modern society has contributed to the unruly nature of the modern society.
Bureaucracy is also characterized by impersonal relationships. When working in
bureaucratic manner, there exists no personal relationship among workers or between the
workers and their seniors. This form of relationship is highly discouraged. The aim is to
ensure that every person focuses on their work and that there is no bias based on personal
relationship. Although this has helped increase productivity, it has completely changed the
social nature of man. By nature, man is a social being. Due to work and chase for money, the
social aspect has been greatly neglected leading to a situation where man has almost lost the
social touch. In explaining man’s chief danger, Mills argue that the modern productive
methods have turned man in to a ‘cheerful robot’. Although people are compensated for their
work, they spend too much time working to the extent that they have lost their identity as
social beings (Descartes, 14). This is dangerous as it has led to a point where work is more

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glorified that being social and establishing good personal relationships. Therefore,
bureaucracy contributes to man’s chief danger.
Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man
Herbert Marcuse was neo-liberal Marxist. In 1964, he wrote about a one-dimensional
man. The one-dimensional man refers to a person in a capitalist society. Traditionally,
Marxism relied on conflict from within to bring about change. If a person or a group of
people felt that things were not right, then they could decide to make the appropriate changes
that will make things better. According to Marcuse, this is no longer possible (Heins, 71).
The main reason for this is the rise and growth of capitalism. In a capitalism society, an
individual is one dimensional in nature since they cannot do anything to change their society.
In capitalism, individuals accept whatever happens whether good or bad. Here is the
reason why. In capitalism societies, the factors of production are owned and controlled by a
few individuals. These individuals are very rich and influence both policy and what happens
in the society. Therefore, the common person is left with no option but to provide labour to
the rich class so that they can be able to afford both basic and other needs. The situation has
become so bad that it is now hard to get an opportunity to provide this labour. This has left a
numerous number of people jobless and consequently poor. This is exactly what Mills
regarded as man’s chief danger. Capitalism has led to a revolution that makes certain
individuals extremely rich at the expense of others. This is due to what Mills referred to as
discriminatory methods of production. True to his observations, these methods that are
facilitated by capitalism has posed great danger to human life. Capitalism has led to a large
number of poor people who can barely afford food, clothes and decent shelter.
To make the matters worse for the one-dimensional man, he cannot change the state
of things. As observed above, the owners of the factors of production are the ones who

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control what happens. Therefore, the common person is left with no choice but to adapt to the
environment and conditions presented to them by the upper class. As Mills observed, the only
way to eliminate this danger, is for man to consider employing sociological imagination. If
people could take sometime to view their history, biographies and the current events as being
synergistic in nature, then they would probably avert the chief danger. At the moment,
however, man is yet to carry out the process of sociological imagination. If he does not so
soon, things may get out of hand and it may be impossible to recover from the consequences.
Marx’s Discussion of Alienation
Marx’s theory of alienation revolves around technology and modernity. Although
technology has enabled the human race to develop immensely it has come with numerous
negative repercussions (Erickson, 470). It is normal to assume that what is happening today
happens so independently. However, Marx observes that that nothing happens independently.
What is happening in the current day is as a result of the decisions that human beings made in
previous days. Let us take some examples that would help explain the concept of alienation.
Although the cities are becoming more populated, human beings are increasingly becoming
detached from each other (Kurtz, 14). Although technology has made it possible to produce
enough food to feed everyone, there are many poor people who do not have access to food
(Bhaskar, 7). Although, technology can help us achieve almost anything that we want, it has
led to such negative repercussions as global warming, nuclear weapons productions and
unending wars. Therefore, the Marx views technological advancements as the path that man
uses to destroy himself. This compares greatly to the observations of Mills. Mills argued that
political factors and technological factors will prevent man from engaging in sociological
imagination. Following are the key relationships between the theory of alienation and man’s
chief danger as presented by Mills.

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Due to technological advancements, there conflict has developed within human
beings such that they no longer understand their aims in life. Technology has brought with
itself great transformations that man finds himself confused on what his role is (Healy, Mike,
and Iwona, 14). Although there are many advantages that have been accrued as a result of
technology, it has made life more complicated than ever before. Therefore, the societal
transformations have contributed to majority of the ills of the modern society. Mills was
therefore right to conclude that the greatest danger facing man is the transformation taking
place in the society and his inability to realise his aims in life. according to Mills, the only
way to realise this aim is to carry out a sociological imagination. It seems that this is yet to be
done.
Bureaucracy, Repressive Desublimation and Alienation
Bureaucracy, repressive desublimation and Alienation seem to work together to
contribute to the chief danger. The following discussion represents the interrelationship
between the three and how this contributes to man’s chief danger. The bureaucracy
administrative system has been greatly employed by businesses and governments. In modern
organizations, the administration is hierarchical in nature and discourages personal
relationships at work. This has turned people into cheerful robots as Mill had projected. In the
modern days there have been a shift from working in offices to working at home. This
represents the technological advancement that Marx describes in his alienation theory. Due to
technology, it is possible to work remotely from home. There is a shift towards online
working where individuals can work from home instead of reporting to physical offices.
Although this is viewed as convenience by most workers, it has several disadvantages. The
main one is that a person working from home may spend most of their time behind the screen
of their computer and have little or no time to interact with others. Psychologists have argued
that this is a recipe for disaster (Kim, 7). Failure to interact with other people have turned

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individuals in to antisocial beings who are likely to engage in antisocial behaviours.
Therefore, bureaucracy and alienation work together to contribute to the chief danger.
Repressive desublimation refers to the idea of one-dimensional man. This is man who
has to abide by what is happening due to his inability to bring about change. Such is the
person who is working under a bureaucratic system of administration. In this system,
decisions are made by individuals who are in senior offices. Therefore, workers are left with
no option but to abide by those decisions. If a person does not obey these decisions, they are
considered to have defied authority and could face punitive measures. These punitive
measures include being sacked. There is a sense in which Marx’s theory of alienation also
applies here. While working under a bureaucracy, an individual cannot make any choice yet
they are alienated from social life (Schacht, 7). The average person spends at least 8 hours a
day working. When they are through with work, they are usually too tired to engage in
activities that could make them interact with other people. In a nutshell, bureaucracy,
repressive desublimation and alienation work together to depreciate the quality of life.
Sociological Imagination and Man’s Chief Danger
According to Mill, most men and women are so cannot understand the immense
impacts that have been brought by sociological and cultural changes (Mehan, 153).
Sociological imagination would be a great way to help avoid man’s chief danger. The social
scientist would be at the centre of helping people appreciate the importance of sociological
imagination. Sociological imagination refers to the process of reflecting the influence of the
society and history in an individual’s life (Hege, 21). There are several ways in which
sociological imagination is important in helping man avoid the danger. One, man would
understand his history and how it has contributed to the current situation. Most of the
activities that happen today are as a result of historical occurrences. If individuals could take

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time to understand their history, they would be better equipped to make decisions for a better
tomorrow. Let us take an example. Suppose a community disposes sewage to a local river.
Let us also assume that this river is the main source of their drinking and irrigation water. It
follows that the water will be contaminated by the sewage. If people use such water for
drinking, it may cause illnesses. It would be unwise for the individuals in the community not
to ask themselves what might be polluting the river. On reflection, they will realize that it is
due to the sewage fed in to the river. If they do not reflect, they may end up consistently
using polluted water which will continue to affect their health negatively.
Another main way through which sociological imagination helps avoid the danger is
through understanding the influence that societies have on individuals. Every society have
some social norms. These are unwritten rules that guide the operations of the society. The
society affects its members both directly and indirectly. For instance, a capitalist society
favours a few individuals while making others live miserably. It is only when people
appreciate the impact that society has on their lives that they can seek for solutions to
problems facing them. For instance, people may decide to adopt a socialist system to
eliminate the inequalities that are brought about by capitalism. If they decide to do so
unanimously, no one can stop them since they are ones to decide what should happen to
them. Let us take an example with Russia. After seeing the negative effects of capitalism,
people of the then Soviet Union decided to do away with capitalism and embrace socialism.
In socialism, most of the resources in a country are owned by the state and are distributed to
people according to need.

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