Answer to Question #230977 in Sociology for NEO

Question

• Explain how classical theorists conceptualized the society-environment relationship.

Answer 1

The basic premise of all classical sociological theory is that the contemporary world is the result of changes from traditional to modern societies.  According to Karl Max, the transition to modernity lies in the relationship between the propertied and labouring class thus the relations of production. These relations have exploitative consequences that alienate workers from themselves, nature, and the products of their labour. Marx argues that private property is the end product of alienated labour. Private property is then the product of alienated labour and the means through which labour “alienates itself, the realization of this alienation."