Marx and Weber: The origins of capitalism

The realm of social theory is not an easy one to tackle, as it requires one to have significant knowledge of ideas of the past, and the events that helped shape the circumstances that these historical ideas were developed in. For example, when studying contemporary social systems, one must have an understanding of not only Karl marx's ideas, but the circumstances of his time as they would have shaped his thoughts in some way. Studying social theory is a multi-disciplinary endeavor that encompasses philosophy, politics, economics, and especially sociology, and knowledge of all of these fields of important to fully understand how social theory operates and affects our lives. (Smith, 1998: vii). Two prominent social theorists whose work has contemporary relevance are Karl marx and Max weber.