Max Weber

Max Weber: Introduction

• Born April 21, 1864

• In Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany (Suburbs of Berlin)
• Eldest of seven children in upper middle class
family
• German Political Economist and Sociologist
• One of the founders of modern Sociology
• Began his interest in Social Sciences when he was
13
• Brother Alfred became a Sociologist and
Economist
• Helped found the German Democratic Party
 Max Weber: Education
• In 1882 Weber enrolled in the University of Heidelberg as a law student
• In 1884 transferred back home to study at the University of Berlin
• Studied one term at the University of Goettingen and had short periods of
military training
• In 1886 passed the “Referendar” (similar to the bar association in British
and American legal systems) but continued to study history
• In 1889 earned his law doctorate and two years later was qualified to hold
a German professorship
 Max Weber: Post Education
• After 1889 took an interest in contemporary social policy
• Joined a professional association of German economists (called the
“Verin”) who saw economics solved the many social problems of the age
• In 1890 the “Verin” established a research program to study influx of
foreign farm workers to Eastern Germany as local laborers migrated to
Germany’s rapidly industrializing cities.
• Weber was put in charge of this study and wrote a large part of the
results.
• The final report was acclaimed as an excellent piece of empirical research
and boosted Weber’s reputation as an expert in agrarian economics
(microeconomics)
 Later Life

• 1893-Married Marianne Schnitger, who later

became an author and published Weber’s works
after his death
• 1894-Moved to the University of Freiburg,
appointed professor of Economics
• 1896-Moved to the University of Heidelburg
• 1898- Quarreled with his father,
who died two months later, which left Weber
more prone to nervousness
and insomnia.
• Reduced his teaching load and spent months in a
sanitarium
• 1900-Moved to Italy for two years
 The Protestant Ethic

• Between 1898-1902 Weber didn’t

publish a single paper
• 1903-Resigned from Heidelburg
professorship and became an
associate editor for Archives for
Social Science and Social Welfare
• 1904-Published The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
his most famous and influential
work.
 During WWI
• During World War I, Weber joined the worker and soldier
council of Heidelburg (1918).
• Was also consultant to the German Armistice Commission at
the Treaty of Versailles, and a member of the committee
responsible for drafting the Weimar Constitution
-He personally advocated for the inclusion of Article 48 in the Weimar
Constitution, which Hitler later used as justification for his dictatorship
 After WWI
• He resumed teaching after WWI, first at Vienna and later at
Munich
• In Munich he established a sociology institution in the
University but didn’t personally participate in it.
• He was extremely left-wing during this time, prompting
several right-wing protests from students.
• Max Weber died of pnuemonia in Munich on June 14, 1920
 Max Weber: Works Intro
• Individualist
• More cultural in orientation than Marx and Durkheim
• Believed the work of social institutions was collective among
individuals under influence
• Religious, Political, Economic, and Aesthetic all motivated action.
• Argued that social science should seek causal arguments that
generalize past any particular case, even if it was not possible to
build universal laws of human society.
• Stressed the proper object of analysis was social action. (action
results from the head which has subjective motivations)
 Max Weber

Objectivity in Social Science

 Max Weber: Objectivity in Social Science

• Only way to escape the subjectivity of researcher is the use of

ideal types
• Ideal types must be explained in detail to understand how the
historian would like the word to be interpreted.
• Confuses theory and history
• Capitalism and Democracy?
• Church and sect?
• If a historian does not pay attention to the use of ideal types
without elaboration, his work may be vaguely felt.
 Max Weber: Objectivity in Social Science

• The danger of ideal types results from a cultural

understanding
• Ideal types used in objective explanations of social action
should be concerned with the ideas that subjectivity motivate
action
• “Synthesis is an ‘idea’ which we have created emerges even
more markedly when those fundamental main principles have
either only very imperfectly or not at all been raised to the
level of explicit consciousness or at least have not taken the
form of explicitly elaborated complexes of ideas.”
 Max Weber: Objectivity in Social Science

• Ideal types usually represent what is essential to the expositor

in that period in time.
• Ex. Christianity
• If a historian portrays the ideas he feels are essential to
Christianity this will represent his “idea” of Christianity
• This ideal may differ from the values of other persons say the
early Christians or people with similar beliefs but in different
denominations
• This creates an invalid interpretation
• There must be a precise distinction between logically
comparative analysis of reality by ideal types in the logical
sense and the value judgment of reality on the basis of ideals.
 Max Weber: Discussion Questions

• Weber identified a technique used by historians called an

“ideal type” which represents concepts that need to be
explained by the historian to identify what the historian had in
mind. Can you think of an example where this could be
applied to today’s world and how could it be misinterpreted?

• How important do you feel that the explanation of ideal types

is when a new idea or unfamiliar idea is brought forth? Can it
be considered a good or bad thing when new ideas are
brought forth differ from the collective empirical knowledge
that exists?
Basic Sociological Terms

Max Weber - 1914

 Preliminary Information
• Found at the beginning of Economy and
Society
• Attempts to outline the basic tools of
sociology
• Provides Weber’s view of sociology as a part
of the social sciences
 Definition of Sociology
and Social Action

• "Sociology is a science concerning itself with

the interpretive understanding of social
action and thereby with a causal explanation
of its course and consequences."

• Action relates to how an actor attaches

“subjective meaning” to his/her behavior and
it is “social” to the extent that its subjective
meaning takes account of the behavior of
others.
 Methodological Foundations

1. Meaning (two kinds)

1. the actual existing meaning of a particular actor or the average
meaning given to a group of actors
2. the theoretically conceived pure type of subjective meaning
attributed to the actor/group
2. Distinguishing meaningful action from simple reaction is
difficult, and purely historical actions are often both
active and reactive
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

3. “All interpretation of meaning strives for clarity and

verifiable accuracy.” Basis for certainty can be either
rational (math/logic) or emotional (empathy/art).
1. For methodological reasons, it is preferable
to treat all irrational action as a deviation
from an typical rational course of action
⚪ Weber emphasizes that rationality is a
method of sociology and should not be the
substance of sociology
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

4. “In all the sciences of human action, account must be

taken of processes and phenomena which are devoid of
subjective meaning…”(stimuli, results, circumstance).

5. Understanding may be of two kinds:

1. Direct observational (speech, facial expressions)
2. Explanatory understanding (understanding the
motive behind an action)
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

6. Understanding involves the interpretive grasp of meaning in one of

the following contexts:
1. Historical – intended meaning for concrete action
2. Sociological mass phenomena – average intended meaning
3. Ideal types – appropriate to scientific understanding
⚪ Often we have only the 'imaginary experiment' - thinking away
particular elements of a chain of motivation and thereby
arriving at a causal judgment.
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

7. Motive - a complex of subjective meanings

which seems to account for the conduct in
question
8. Processes and uniformities not designated as
sociological because they are not
“understandable” are not any less important.
Such phenomena are treated as conditions,
stimuli, or circumstance (furthering or
hindering)
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

9. Action ... exists only as the behavior of one or more individual

human beings
1. Thinking on lower levels does not lead to subjective
understandings.
2. Social collectivities must be treated as modes of
organization resulting from actions of individuals.
3. Weber cautions against “organic” school of
sociology, which focuses on the “whole” in which
the individual may act. He believes that this is a
valuable first step, but only a first step of
sociological analysis.
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

10. Sociological "laws" - or generalizations from typical probabilities

observed
1. "are both understandable and definite in the highest degree
insofar as the typically observed point of action can be understood
in terms of the purely rational pursuit of an end.“
2. It is when the means to such actions are clearly determined by the
context, that it becomes clear that purely psychological
approaches fail.
⚪ Weber believed that using any kind of psychology as the ultimate
foundation of the sociological interpretation of action to be flawed
and erroneous
 Methodological Foundations (cont.)

11. Sociology differs from history in that we seek generalized uniformities

and processes to form type concepts, which differs from the exact data
proposed in a particular case by historians.

• Sociological concepts can contribute towards the causal explanation of

historically and culturally significant phenomenon.
• Sociology can offer greater precision in concepts as a trade for precision
in empirical cases
• while we seek a subjective understanding, actors may not be consciously
aware of these motivations themselves. Actors often act out of impulse
or habit.
 Social Action
Social action theory began with the work of Max Weber. In
Economy and Society (Weber, [1922] 1978, p. 4), Weber
defines action that is social as actions to which the ‘acting
individual attaches a subjective meaning to his behaviour—
be it overt or covert, omission or acquiescence.
According to Weber “Action is social, in so far as by virtue
of the subjective meaning attached to it by the acting
individual it takes account of the behaviour of others and
thereby oriented in its course.”
Talcott Parsons was a major United States proponent of
social action theory. For him, social action is a process that
has motivational significance to the individual actor or the
component individuals of a collectivity.
 Characteristics of Social Action
1. Social action is oriented toward others. These can be past,
present, or future, known or unknown.

2. Not every kind of action is social action. Overt action is

non-social if it is oriented solely to the behavior of inanimate
objects (religious activity such as personal meditation or
prayer).

3. Not all contact is social (like a collision of two cyclists) if it is

merely a natural accident. The discussion/confrontation that
follows the crash would be.

4. Social action is not identical to similar actions across many

people or every action influenced by other people. Putting
up umbrellas due to rain is not a social action. Neither is
simple imitation of others, if it is entirely reactive.
 Social Action
According to Weber, there are three key terms:
(i)Deuten: To interpret, to grasp the significance or
subjective meaning.
(ii)Verstehen: To comprehend, to organize the subjective
meaning of human actions into concepts.
(iii) Erklaren: To explain causally or reveal the constants
of human behaviour.
The primary task of sociology is the study of social action.
Sociology studies the different aspects of human
behaviour particularly meaning, purpose and value of the
human behaviour.
 Types of Social Action
Social action may be oriented in four ways:
1. Instrumentally rational - Determined by expectations as to
the behavior of objects or persons in the environment
2. Value rational- Determined by a conscious belief in the value
for its own sake of some ethical , etc. behavior, independent
of its success
3. Affectual (especially emotional) - Determined by the actors
specific states and feelings
4. Traditional - Determined by ingrained habit.
 Types of Social Action….

1. Traditional behavior is often NOT social, but a matter of purely

automatic reaction.
2. Purely affectual behavior also stands on the borderline of what
can be "meaningfully" oriented - such as emotional reactions.
3. Value-rationality differs from affectual in its conscious
formulation of the ultimate values guiding the action. These
are people acting on their convictions, regardless of the
outcome.
4. Action s instrumentally rational when the end, means and
secondary results are all rationally taken into consideration and
weighed.
5. It would be very unusual to find any type of social action that
was solely one of these ways, nor is this thought to be an
exhaustive list.
 Social Action….: Raymond Aron
1.Weber conceives of sociology as a comprehensive science of
social action. The typology of actions is therefore the most abstract
level of the conceptual system applicable to the social field.
2.Sociology is a comprehensive science of action. Here
comprehension implies an understanding of the meaning man
gives to his conduct.
3.The classification of types of action to a certain extent governs
the Weberian interpretation of the contemporary era. According to
Weber the prime characteristic of the world we live in is
rationalization. Rationalization is expressed by a widening of the
sphere of zweckrational action, the rational action in relation to
goals.
4.The classification of action according to Max Weber may be
co-related with the relations of solidarity or independence
between science and politics.
Abraham and Morgan wrote, there are six types of social
relations designated as modes of orientation of social action.
Weber thought of these as “patterns of human behaviour”
attributable to the recognition of normative expectations.

1. Usage: Described behaviour performed simply to conform

to a style of pattern, for example, social etiquette.
2. Custom: Described habitual practices with roots in antiquity.
3. Rational Orientation: Designated that variety of social action
which is consequence of actors orienting themselves to one
another on the basis of similar ulterior expectations, for
example mutual self-interest.
4. Fashion: Described social action which is the result of
adherence to contemporary fad.
 Social Action….
5. Convention: Designated that type of social action performed in
recognition of strong moral obligation in the manner of Sumner’s
mores.
6. Law: Described that type of social action performed in
recognition of codified expectation and restriction. Sociology
concerns the rationality of individual and collective behaviour. It is
the science of human action “both comprehensive and explicative.
Criticisms:
Weber’s theory of social action especially his typology of social
action has encountered severe criticisms.
1. Talcott Parsons criticises Weber for stressing too much the
element of voluntary subjective meaning of the actor. For Parsons,
the action of an actor is involuntary; it is behaviour directed by the
meanings attached by actors to things and people.
 Social Action….
2. A. Schultz criticises Weber for not providing a
satisfactory account of meaningful action since if meaning
is too much divorced from the actor it becomes an
objective category imposed by the sociologists.
3. According to P.S. Cohen, Weber’s typology of social
action is confusing due to Weber’s emphasis on subjective
meaning of the actor. Cohen explains with an example of
traditional action whereby a commoner pays tribute to his
chief because it is customary.

Weber coined the concept “social relationship” to describe

patterned human interaction which is intentional,
meaningful and symbolic”.
 Discussion Questions
• With Weber’s definitions of social action in mind,
create some hypothetical scenarios in which social
action occurs and then classify the type of social
action it exhibits. Also create scenarios that do not
fit Weber’s definition and explain why they are not
examples of social action.
 Discussion Questions
• What examples from Weber’s Basic
Sociological Terms are still relative in
contemporary sociological theory and how?
Did this work influence other famous
sociologists?
• How has sociological theory evolved and how
might it be different without the works of Max
Weber?
 Max Weber
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism
Die protestantiche Ethik und der “Geist” des
kapitalismus
 The Basic Idea

• A rise in rationalization, particularly

rationalization of the economy
• To Weber, the most rational economic
system is capitalism
• Capitalism arose when large numbers of
people worked in the secular world,
influenced by a work ethic derived from
Protestantism, particularly Calvinism. This
lead to the development of enterprises and
accumulation of wealth.
 …continued

• Worldly activities, particularly business, were

given positive social and moral meaning,
ethically encouraged, and rationally pursued.
• NOT the goal of the religion, but rather a
byproduct, giving rise to capitalism, allowing
for the basic amount of accumulated wealth
for capitalism to evolve.
• Paradox: Religious devotion is not typically
associated with worldly success- Why is this so
in Protestantism?
 The Protestant Ethic
• Calvinists believed in predestination- their salvation (or lack
thereof) was already determined and what they did on Earth
didn’t change it.
• Therefore, they looked for signs of their salvation, the major
one being success in business.
• It was also their ethical duty to seek profit, or to be a good
worker
• There was no guilt in being a successful capitalist, extorting
workers, because success and failure economically was
decided by God and a marker of divine favor.
 Protestant Ethic
• The new Protestant religions compelled people to work
extremely hard in the secular world, making it more likely
they’d accumulate wealth.
• However, these sects forbade using this wealth for
materialism, luxury goods, etc., so the majority of this capital
was re-invested into enterprise to be even more successful.
• All these beliefs about economic success add up to the
Protestant Ethic.
 Roots of the Protestant Ethic

• The Reformation- There was no longer solely salvation in

the church.
• New Protestant religions that didn’t look to the church to
earn or assure salvation, but rather that it was already
pre-ordained.
• However, the average Protestant could not easily adjust to
this new view, only “religious geniuses” like Martin Luther
could accept this without question.
• Protestants began to look for other signs or divine signals
that they were among the saved.
 Spirit of Capitalism

• Essentially the ideas and habits that favor the rational

pursuit of economic gain.
-This is the attitude of what Weber calls the “heroic
enteprenuers”.
• Not motivated by greed for profit, as had been the case
for the rest of history, but by an ethical system that
encouraged hard work and economic success.
• Being successful and working hard was highly moral, and
one’s moral duty.
 Spirit of Capitalism

• Systematical, rational pursuit of profit

combined with frugality, punctuality,
fairness, and the earning of money itself as
a legitimate goal.
• This was not compatible with other
religions, particularly Catholicism, allowing
capitalism to first and more successfully
evolve in Protestant countries.
 Capitalism

• Capitalism continued to be successful as the western world

continued to become more and more secular.
• The religious underpinnings of capitalism’s success
disappeared from society.
• However, the Protestant ethic was largely responsible for
what Weber terms the “disenchantment of the Western
world”, becoming an industrialized society free from
“magic”.
• This thesis is quite a critique of Marx by stating that religion
fostered capitalism, not that the base for capitalism was
actually economic.
 Discussion Questions

• Do you think Weber’s thesis is valid? Did

capitalism come from this Protestant ethic,
or could there be other explanations
(Marx, Polanyi)? Why or why not?

• How much of a role does religion play in

the economy in today’s modern society?
How much does modern society affect
religion?