Victoria Rampersad

Politics as a Vocation – Max Weber

Political Sociology

The lecture Max Weber gave in 1919 “Politics as a Vocation,” expanded upon the

professionalization of politics. Weber in his classical work, illuminates concepts such as politics,

the state, politics as a professional choice and the different types of leaders within the political

realm. At the very beginning, Weber outlines his own sociological definition of what the state is.

According to him, the state “is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the

legitimate use of physical force.” What Weber alludes to here is that the very idea of the state was

founded upon violence. In essence he advances just like Hobbes (the state of nature is brutish and

evil), that the state and violence have an intimate relationship. In Weber own words, he announces

that “every state is founded on force.” But what is Weber really trying to say? If one reads between

the lines of Weber work, it is almost evident that he has a preconceived notion that violence and

force is specific to the state. There has been numerous instances throughout history, where there

were incidents when state-regulated violence led to the decisive expiration of the state instead of

the strengthening or development of this entity. One such example is the 2007-2008 Kenya crisis.

The post-election crisis caused ample anarchy for those in Kenya in terms of political, economic

and social aspects. Opposition leader Raila Odinga and his supporters rejected the avowed victory

of incumbent Mwai Kibaki, alleging it was the result of voter padding. Protest degenerated into

widespread violence as decades of economic frustration and ethnic rivalry spiraled out of control.

Gangs of youths blocked Kenya's main roads and set fire to numerous homes who were perceived

as 'outsiders'. In total there were more than 1200 deaths and the displacements of over 600,000

citizens into crowded refugee camps, homes of friends and family.

Based on the foregoing, Weber went on in his lecture about the two ways in which politicians

makes politics once vocation/calling. He outlined that one lives for politics or one lives off politics.
Victoria Rampersad
Politics as a Vocation – Max Weber
Political Sociology
According to Weber, the one who lives for politics makes politics his life an internal sense while

the one who lives off politics strives to make politics a perpetual source of income simply because

it’s their ‘bread and butter.’ Those who live for politics, are the ones who have other means of

income and are also actively involved with the society in order to fix societal ills. For these politics,

politics is their passion while the monetary gains are just secondary to their desire. The French

Revolution can be used to illustrate the two types of politicians as discussed by Weber. The

Revolution of 1789 was mainly to abandon the ruling of royal ascendancy and replace it with a

democratic administration. Those who participated in the revolution had other occupations but it

was because they had ulterior motives to fulfill they all came as an amalgamating force to fight for

democracy during the French Revolution. These individuals can be regarded as those who lived

“for politics.” On the flip side however the royal family wanted to keep their power and dominance

over France. Their drive for greed motivated the royal family since they cared little about the

population and more about wealth accumulation and that status of sovereignty. In this instance,

this is a perfect example of those who live “off politics.”

Advancing my analysis on Weber’s piece, he also spoke about the tripartite classification of

legitimate authority; Traditional, Charismatic and Legal. In traditional authority, the legitimacy

comes from tradition simply because it has always been “that way.’ A perfect example of

traditional authority is a monarch passing their role down to an heir. Leaders such as Mahatma

Gandhi and Martin Luther king can be regarded as a Charismatic leader. In this type of authority,

the legitimacy comes from the personality and leadership qualities from the leader themselves.

The final type of legitimate authority outlined was legal/rational. Leaders such as Dr. Keith

Rowley, Barrack Obama and Portia Simpson Miller are just some of the handful that can be
Victoria Rampersad
Politics as a Vocation – Max Weber
Political Sociology
categorized as legal/rational leaders. Rational/legal type of authority can simply be defined as

authorities that are bureaucratically and legally attached to certain positions.

Just like any profession, there are those who engage in unethical behavior. According to

Weber, vanity is a problem for most politicians. This classical theorist went on to state that in the

field of politics there are two deadly sins that a politicians can commit. These are the lack of

objectivity and irresponsibility. Vanity in most cases causes corruption. Subsequent to this point

one can allude to the politics played out in Trinidad and Tobago. Every election the citizens hear

of all the nepotism, ‘politricking’ and political kickbacks from both sides of the political fence.

Such examples of politicians consumed by vanity according to accusations are Jack Warner,

Basdeo Panday, Ish Ferguson and Steve Galbaransingh,

Although Weber lecture was very informative and educating there were limitations also. Weber

had an idealistic and superficial view of politicians. It’s as almost as he wanted politicians to be

perfect. In addition to this he created a hasty generalization when he says religion has no room in

politics because politics demands ruthlessness apart from violence whereas religion on the other

hand preaches uprightness and humility.

In conclusion, Weber offered to the realm of Sociology and politics a rather comprehensive

view of what make up the state and what comprises of the political. He went deep into his analysis

to show his perspective on the type of leadership and the vocation of politicians. Although there

were minor flaws to his lecture, his work is considered pioneering as in his discussion he set

boundaries and parameters which led to a fruitful outcome.